1. "Affliction causes us to ask questions. It causes us to ask what we value most. But it can't show us what we should value most. It sends us searching for meaning, but it doesn't give us the map to find meaning."

2. "Like a weasel sneaking into a hen house to steal precious eggs, affliction comes away and it steals our health. It steals our family and friends. It steals our comfort. It steals our security. And it even steals our limited number of days."

3. "Prayer is like a muscle. When you pray, you exercise that muscle, and it's strengthened. It keeps from getting tight. And when you don't pray, it gets weak. If prayer is like a muscle, then affliction is like the 100-meter dash of prayer."

4. "We must pray because the simple act of praying reminds us that God is there. And this is especially needed during a time of loneliness that affliction brings."

5. "When suffering is too terrible to name, God names it for us. He shows us how to begin. And even as we speak these words to Him, He is carrying us to Himself. Like a father carries a crying child."

6. "Our hope is not just that our tears would be wiped away, but that every tear of every Christian would be wiped away. Our hope is that death itself would be no more. Our hope is that sin would be abolished. Our hope is that Christ would come back."

7. "We help each other suffer well, and we point one another to ultimate hopes when our immediate hopes fail."

8. "When we're suffering, wherever we turn our eyes, we will find nothing but grounds for despair until we turn our eyes up and we look at the one who never dies. It's in him and in his benefits that hope is to be found."

9. "Every building in this city, every king and every nation will be wiped away. The planets themselves will be stopped in their tracks and the stars will burn up and burn out before the Lord will cast you away."

10. "Affliction may devour everything and even these mortal bodies, but affliction itself will be devoured in the end. Affliction along with the universe will pass away, but Christian, you will remain with your Lord."

Observation Questions

1. In Psalm 102:1-2, what specific requests does the psalmist make of the Lord regarding how God should respond to his prayer?

2. According to verses 3-7, what physical and emotional symptoms does the psalmist describe as characterizing his affliction (such as his days, bones, heart, eating, and sleep)?

3. In verse 10, what does the psalmist say is the cause of his suffering, and what imagery does he use to describe what God has done to him?

4. What contrast does the psalmist draw in verses 11-12 between himself and the Lord?

5. According to verses 25-27, what does the psalmist say will happen to the heavens and earth, and how does this compare to what will happen to God?

6. What promise does the psalmist express in verse 28 regarding the children of God's servants and their offspring?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does the psalmist begin his prayer with urgent requests for God to hear him (verses 1-2) before describing his suffering? What does this reveal about the relationship between prayer and affliction?

2. In verses 3-11, the psalmist uses vivid imagery like smoke, a desert owl, and evening shadows. How do these images help communicate the nature of suffering, and why might God include such graphic language in Scripture?

3. The sermon emphasized that in verse 10, the psalmist acknowledges God's sovereignty over his affliction. How can affirming God's sovereignty actually provide hope rather than despair during suffering?

4. Why does the psalmist shift from personal lament (using "my" and "me") in verses 3-11 to corporate hope (focusing on Zion and future generations) in verses 12-22? What does this teach us about the nature of Christian hope?

5. The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 102:25-27 and applies it to Jesus Christ. How does understanding that the "Lord" in this psalm is ultimately Christ change the way we read and pray this psalm in our own afflictions?

Application Questions

1. The sermon pointed out that we often fail to pray during affliction because we haven't developed the habit during good times. What specific, practical step could you take this week to strengthen your "prayer muscle" before the next season of difficulty comes?

2. When you experience suffering, do you tend to turn inward and isolate, or do you bring your complaints honestly to God and to your church community? What would it look like for you to be more honest about your struggles with one trusted person this week?

3. The psalmist found hope by shifting his focus from his temporary suffering to God's eternal, unchanging nature. What is one current worry or source of grief in your life, and how might meditating on God's unchangeableness (verse 27) reshape your perspective on it?

4. The sermon challenged those who are not currently suffering to pray for those who are, using this psalm as a template. Who in your life or church is experiencing affliction right now, and how could you use the language of Psalm 102 to pray specifically for them?

5. The sermon concluded with the exhortation to "cling to Christ" in affliction. In practical terms, what does clinging to Christ look like for you during a difficult day—what specific practices, truths, or habits help you hold onto Him when everything else feels unstable?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Job 1:1–22 — This passage shows how a righteous man responded to sudden, devastating loss by worshiping God, illustrating the tension between God's sovereignty and human suffering that Psalm 102:10 raises.

2. Hebrews 12:1–11 — The sermon referenced this passage to explain how God disciplines those He loves, providing context for understanding affliction as part of God's fatherly care for His children.

3. Romans 8:18–30 — This passage addresses the groaning of creation and believers under the curse while pointing to the hope of future glory, reinforcing the psalm's movement from lament to eternal hope.

4. Lamentations 3:19–33 — This passage echoes the psalmist's experience of affliction while affirming God's steadfast love and faithfulness, demonstrating that lament and hope belong together.

5. Revelation 21:1–8 — This passage describes the ultimate fulfillment of the hope expressed in Psalm 102, when God will dwell with His people, wipe away every tear, and abolish death and mourning forever.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Our Days Are Numbered and Affliction Teaches Us What Matters Most

II. When Affliction Devours Our Days, We Must Draw Near to the Eternal God (Psalm 102)

III. Movement One: We Should Pray (Psalm 102:1-2)

IV. Movement Two: We Should Lament (Psalm 102:3-11)

V. Movement Three: We Should Hope in God (Psalm 102:12-28)

VI. Clinging to Christ as Our Ultimate Hope

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Well, our days are numbered. This is something that we all know intuitively, isn't it? There are certain things that remind us of this even further. So as a new parent, I found that children can make us feel this. Nora is one year old, and I am soaking up every minute that I can grab with her.

Now, I'm biased. I think my daughter's really cute. And on top of that, she's a happy and delightful baby. And she's changing so fast. I feel like I'm going to blink, and instead of me walking into the room and that eliciting a smile from her, I'll walk into the room and she'll be a teenager.

And she'll be annoyed by my very presence.

Our days are numbered. We know this, right? And to deal with the dilemma, sometimes we make aspirational lists. We have life goals. One of the examples that I've noticed recently is that when people move away from DC, they often make a DC bucket list, a list of things to do, places to go, people to hang out with before they move away.

And the funny thing is, I haven't met a single person who has made it all the way through their DC bucket list. I wonder if you've made any similar lists yourself.

One author, Kate Bowler, commenting on the phenomenon of aspirational lists, once observed, the problem with aspirational lists, of course, is that they often skip the point entirely. Instead of helping us grapple with our finitude, they have approximated infinitude. With unlimited time and resources, we could do anything, be anyone. We could become more adventurous by jumping out of airplanes, more traveled by visiting every continent, or more cultured by reading the most famous books of all time. With the right list, we could never starve with the hunger of want.

But it is much easier to count items than to know what counts.

Of course, as we recalibrate our aspirations as we butt up against the limits that our own finiteness puts on us, but even then, many of us have a tough time seeing what really counts, as Boller puts it.

Often, that's where affliction comes in. Affliction. Physical, mental, relational, or any other kind of affliction cuts our aspirations down to size. And then it teaches us what we really value by taking those things away.

Like a weasel sneaking into a hen house to steal precious eggs, affliction comes away and it steals our health. It steals our family and friends. It steals our comfort. It steals our security. And it even steals our limited number of days.

And in our suffering, we cling to what we love most. Or we mourn that thing that we've just lost.

Affliction causes us to ask questions. It causes us to ask what we value most.

But it can't show us what we should value most. It sends us searching for meaning, but it doesn't give us the map to find meaning.

As Christians, we should go to figure out where to find meaning in the Scripture. And so that's what we're going to do today. Let's go ahead and get your Bible out if you have one and turn to page 102, or sorry, to Psalm 102. And then if you don't have a Bible, you can find it in the pew Bible in front of you on page 501. So Psalm 102 on page 501 of the pew Bible towards the middle.

And this psalm is in the book of Psalms, or the Psalter as it's often called. The Psalter is the songbook of ancient Israel. It is made up of a bunch of songs that would have been sung and set to music in corporate worship. You might have noticed that we sang two of them today. My Shepherd Will Supply My Need is a version of Psalm 23.

And of course we sang Psalm 130 after the prayer of lament. Now, many think Psalm 102 was written by somebody who would have lived during the exile when Israel was exiled from the Promised Land and living in Babylon.

While that is possibly the case, and I think it's probably the case, this psalm would have been a useful psalm during any number of times during Israel's history. It would have been useful during the kings, it would have been useful during exile, it would have even been useful after the Israelites came back to the Promised Land and saw Jerusalem.

In ruins. We don't ultimately know who the psalmist is and we don't know why he wrote, but that's part of the power of the psalm. We're simply told that the psalm was written by one afflicted. That's all we know. And he's faint.

That means that if you are currently afflicted, that means if you've ever been afflicted, or will ever be afflicted. This psalm is for you. In other words, the psalm is for everyone. This psalm is for all people. And it helps to show us where we should turn in our affliction, where we can find meaning.

So let's read what this afflicted one has to say. Please follow along with me as I read Psalm 102.

A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day that I call. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.

My heart is struck down like grass and has withered.

I forget to eat my bread.

Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh.

I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day my enemies taunt me. Those who deride me use my name for a curse.

For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink because of your indignation and anger. For you have taken me up and thrown me down.

My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever. You are remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion. It is the time to favor her. The appointed time has come.

For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For the Lord builds up Zion. He appears in his glory. He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.

Let this be recorded for a generation to come so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. That he looked down from his holy height. From heaven the Lord looked at the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die. That they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord and in Jerusalem his praise. When the peoples gather together and kingdoms to worship the Lord.

But he has broken my strength in midcourse. He has shortened my days. Oh my God, I say, take me not away in the midst of my days. You, whose years endure throughout all generations. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you will remain. They will wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

As you can see from this Psalm, the language is graphic. And the pain is deep.

He seems to have lost it all, but he hasn't lost his God. And so he's crying out to him. This psalm teaches us that affliction may devour everything, everything that is except the eternal God.

And in our affliction, we must draw near to this God if we are to endure. And that's our main point for today. When affliction devours our days, we must draw near to the eternal God. When affliction devours our days, we must draw near to the eternal God. And the psalmist shows us how to do this in three movements: by praying, lamenting, and hoping.

So we should pray, we should lament and we should hope. And each one of these movements build up onto the previous one. So let's begin with movement one, we should pray. It's the most obvious and it's very simple. And by prayer we simply mean turning to God and speaking words to Him.

We see this in verses 1 and 2, Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me, answer me speedily in the day when I call. Here the psalmist is simply praying that the Lord would hear him. And we're taught by the psalmist that our prayers don't need to be elaborate or eloquent.

All we have to do is pray and the Lord hears us. And though it's a simple thing, This needs to be said because in times of unbearable suffering, in times of unspeakable suffering, it's tough to speak. Getting any words out of our mouths at all can feel like an immense hurdle. And then sometimes the idea of not only speaking but speaking to God in prayer can feel beyond us. It can be hard to pray, and it can be hard to pray for a few reasons.

First, we don't pray when we are afflicted because we don't pray when things are going well.

Prayer is like a muscle. When you pray, you exercise that muscle, and it's strengthened. It keeps from getting tight. And when you don't pray, it gets weak.

If prayer is like a muscle, then affliction is like the 100-meter dash of prayer. Even the most experienced runners in the 100-meter dash can pull muscles during that race and struggle to make it to the finish line. So likewise, even the strongest saints among us can struggle to pray when they are afflicted.

Those here today who are not suffering, my encouragement to you is to develop the discipline of prayer now.

The fact that affliction will come. Just that, there's lots of good reasons, but simply the fact that affliction will come soon or sometime during your life is a reason to learn to pray now.

Affliction also has a way of turning us in on ourselves as well. We become consumed with what we've lost or how we suffered, and prayer makes us turn outward. It makes us look around. It makes us look up to God. This isn't easy when the pain of affliction is severe, but it's necessary.

We must look to God. But maybe the biggest hindrance to prayer is that during a fiction, it's easy to believe that God isn't there, that He does not care about your affliction. And friends, this is a satanic lie. And so the psalmist teaches us here that we need to actively work against the temptation to run away from God in affliction and to run to Him. We must pray because the simple act of praying reminds us that God is there.

And this is especially needed during a time of loneliness that affliction brings.

So for those of you here today who are suffering in deep depths, the psalmist's encouragement to you here in these first two verses is simply to pray. Whatever it is that comes out of your mouth, just pray. Try praying out loud. Or maybe try writing down your prayer, because affliction can be distracting. It can take our sights off of what matters most.

And by speaking out loud and by writing things down, it forces us to articulate our thoughts and keep our eyes focused on God. And then if you speak and it doesn't feel like you're praying, just keep at it. I've heard Pastor Ligon Duncan say multiple times that we should pray until we begin to pray. Just pray. Whenever you're suffering affliction, whatever you do, pray.

Kids in the congregation, I wonder if it's ever hard for you to pray. Is it ever hard for you to pray? Why is that?

That's a good question to ask yourself. Better yet, it's a good question to ask your parents. Ask your parents this afternoon, Do you ever struggle with prayer? And see what your parents say to you. You might find that you have more in common with your parents than you originally thought.

And then you will have something to pray for them about.

Okay, so in order to draw near to God, we should pray, but what should we pray? Well, this leads us to our second movement of the text. We should, number two, lament. We should lament. And we see this in verses 3 through 11.

While we don't know why the psalmist is suffering, we do learn a bit of how he's experiencing his suffering.

From verses 3 through 11, we learn that his days are wasting away. He says, My days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away. Like grass. And so in the way that smoke just simply puffs up and disappears, or the way that evening shadows just extend until all is covered in the darkness of night, so does he feel his days are.

Because his grief is so great, his eating is disrupted, we see. This is clear in verses 4, 5, and 9. He says, My heart is struck down like grass and has withered. I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh.

Verse 9, I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink. He's so consumed with his affliction that he forgets to eat. And in his grieving and in his covering with ashes, which would have been customary at the time, the ashes get into the food and then in turn get into his mouth and grits between his teeth. Tears fall into his drink, and so his bones cling to his flesh. We see that he dwells in loneliness and darkness.

That's why the birds are mentioned there in verses 6 and 7. He compares himself to wilderness-dwelling owls who dwell alone among the ruins and awake at night. And then finally, there's that first clause in verse 7: I lie awake. His affliction culminates in an inability to rest.

The days and the nights run together, sunlight brings no cheer during the day, and the night brings no rest.

Pain, loneliness, darkness, restlessness, hunger.

These are what the psalmist says characterize his afflictions.

And I wonder if you guys can relate to this.

Because these attributes characterize afflictions of all different kinds and degrees, from the worst of afflictions to what we may say is the lightest. In a room this big, I trust that multiple people here can relate to the kind of grief that the writer is expressing, whether you can relate to it currently or whether you felt these very things in the past.

Maybe you're at the bottom of the well of depression. And looking outside at the brilliant sunlight of these June days doesn't bring you any joy. In fact, it makes the depression worse. It's like a reminder of just how far down the well you are. The sunlight mocks you.

It's like everyone else in the world is happy but me.

You're alone and peering into the dark.

Or maybe you have an illness. And it seems like this illness is more durable than your body is.

It's stealing away your days.

And so physical pain characterizes your waking moments and keeps you up at night. And worry about what might be left in the ashes gnaws at your mind.

Your days are evaporating like smoke.

Maybe you're lonely. A loved one, a parent, or a friend or a spouse has passed away. The one who knew you best is gone and now you feel invisible.

And the only way to feel better is to feel sad because that's how you're connected to that person. And eating food just seems too self-indulgent.

I trust that I have just scratched the surface of the many kinds and degrees of affliction that are all represented among us here today. And this psalm gives us language for all of them.

And there is still that one verse in this passage, and it may be the hardest of all verses to reckon with. Look there at verse 10. He's talking to the Lord and he says, Because of your indignation and anger, For you have taken me up and thrown me down.

What should we do with this?

Well, these aren't complete, but I've got three things for us to think about right now, and you can have conversation among yourselves the rest of the day. The first is that God is sovereign, and He orders our steps. This is what the psalmist is ultimately recognizing here.

So every trial we face is ultimately allowed by Him. The opening chapters are good or the opening chapters of Job are good if we want to wrestle with this. Part of lament as well is wrestling with this fact. Friend, it's good to go to God and recognize that what you're suffering, God as a sovereign ruler is he's presiding over it. He's permitted it.

Because if God can't come in and save you from your suffering, if God is unable to come in and deliver you from your pain, He's not God, and there is no hope.

So that's first, God is sovereign. Second, suffering is a result of sin. But there are many things that we suffer, many tragic, many terrible things that we suffer that can't be attributed to any particular sin that we've done. The world is groaning under the effects of our rebellion against God, and so we shouldn't be surprised if we groan too.

However, every instance of suffering is an opportunity for us to plead with God, to search our hearts, and to see if there's any wicked way in us. Repentance of sin is always appropriate when we're afflicted in such a way that we're reminded that this world is cursed by sin.

And God's strange providence, affliction can even curb our appetite for sin. If you want to think well about this, Genesis 3:14-19 Luke chapter 13, verses 1 through 5, and Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through the end of chapter 2 are three good texts reflect on how the curse affects our lives. So I'll repeat that for you. Genesis 3:14-19, Luke 13:1-5, and Romans 1:18 through the end of chapter 2.

But dear Christian, whatever you do, don't expect a particular answer for why you face the particular trial you're going through. It may come in this life, but we can't count on knowing why until the next life, until we get to heaven, until the Lord reveals all. If you ever meet a pastor who tells you that without a doubt he knows why you're suffering this horrible sickness or why your loved one passed away, run away from that person.

He's claiming to be God in a way that he can't because he's not God.

So first, God is sovereign. Second, suffering is because of sin. And third, finally, we should know that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. The Lord disciplines those he loves. Hebrews 12 is a great place to go here.

The whole first part of the chapter teaches us about how God uses affliction for the good of his children. Like a good parent, God disciplines us and in discipline draws us to himself.

So in verse 10, the psalmist is recognizing that the Lord is sovereign over his affliction. So like him, we too should go to the Lord for relief whenever we are facing affliction. After all, he is our Father. He's the one who cares for us more than we even care for ourselves.

Before we move on from this lament here in verses 3 through 11, I want to point out one more thing. We should never forget the fact that the words of the Bible are God's very words. That means that in the Psalms, incredibly, God gives us prayers to pray in his own words. And that means in Psalm 102, he is showing us how to lament.

Earlier we considered how hard it is to pray when suffering leaves us speechless. There are indeed moments that the words don't reach. There is suffering too terrible to name.

Well, here God gives us words when our words won't reach.

When suffering is too terrible to name, God names it for us.

He shows us how to begin. And even as we speak these words to Him, He is carrying us to Himself. Like a father carries a crying child.

Friends, from the mere fact that these words exist, you should learn that God wants you to bring your griefs to Him.

When my daughter Nora gets upset, when she is in pain, I don't care what the matter is, I want her to come to me. I want to pick her up. I want to comfort her. How much more then our Heavenly Father, when His beloved, dear Saints are in pain and crying out to Him. God draws near to us so that we can draw near to Him.

And He teaches us, as His children, that His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

This fact that our Heavenly Father wants us to bring our cares to Him should give us hope. Hope that we may suffer many sleepless nights. We may suffer many dark days, but sooner or later morning will come, as we sang earlier today.

In lament, we bring our complaints to God, but we shouldn't stop there. We shouldn't stop with just lament and complaint. Lament is a prayer of pain that then should lead us to trust. And that's what the psalmist does here. The psalmist begins to hope in God after this, and this brings us to our third movement.

We should hope in God. That is the third movement in drawing near to God. We should hope in who he is and what he's promised.

And that's the rest of our psalm, really, today. Verses 12 through 28. And he teaches us that there are really three things that we should pray for, three things that we should hope in, at least in this psalm. The first thing is that the psalmist expresses his hope that God will act. And this is clearest in verses 12 through 17.

Verse 12 begins, But you, O Lord, O Lord are enthroned forever. Anytime you see that but yout in Scripture, you just know something good is gonna happen. And it's no different here. The Lord, the God of steadfast love and mercy who has promised his people that they will dwell with him forever, is still on the throne. And he is still ruling and he is still reigning.

And as long as God is on the throne, he is, and he is our God, we can hope in him. We can hope that he will bring his good purposes to pass. And his hope here that we read in verses 12 through 17 is that the Lord will hear and that the Lord will do what he said that he will, that he said that he will, he will do. And we see this throughout the Old Testament. He says in verse 13, he says, you, will arise and have pity on Zion.

Verse 15, it says, nations will fear the name of the Lord. Verse 17, he regards the prayer of the destitute. These verses are like a mosaic. Of promises in the Old Testament. If you're looking for something to do this afternoon, by the way, you can just look at these verses and see if you can pillage the Old Testament for where these verses were built on.

See if you can figure out where they come from. And my guess is you'll spend this afternoon and even longer doing that. Of course, the hope of the Old Testament, though, is that God would save a people for himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation. That he would send his Messiah, the one who would crush the serpent's head, the serpent who wars against all of the offspring of the Lord's people. The one who was promised to Abraham, who would bless all the nations.

Great David's greater son who would reign forever. This is the one that the psalmist was hoping for. He's calling on God to work the salvation for his people that he himself said he would work. He's calling on the Lord to answer the prayers of his destitute people like he once did in Exodus when he looked down and he heard and he knew. And this is exactly what the Lord did.

And friends, if you're here today and you're not a Christian, this is the good news of Christianity. This is the gospel that this Old Testament psalmist is looking forward to. You see, this world hasn't always been cursed. You see, affliction itself isn't as old as mankind is even. God created the world and everything in it and he created it good.

But sin entered the world when we rebelled against God. God was a good ruler. We had no reason to rebel against him but we did anyways. And when we did, sin came into the world and along with it the curse and affliction. And suffering that seems meaningless.

And God allowed the affliction to come with sin so that we might know something of His wrath against sin. You see, as an eternal God, we will suffer an eternal wrath of punishment for our sin in hell. This affliction that the psalmist is speaking of here is just a foretaste of that eternal judgment that's to come. But God is not just righteous, he's not just just, he is merciful and loving and he did not leave us to ourselves. Rather he sent his only son, the one who dwelled with him for eternity, the one whom he loved from forever.

He sent his only son to come and live the perfect life that we shouldn't have lived. His only son who suffered afflictions that we can't even name. And he died in our place for all who would trust and repent of their sins and trust in him. For all of those who would do that on the cross. And he rose again on the third day, showing that he exhausted God's wrath against those sins.

And he is ruling and reigning in heaven now. And he promises that one day he will come back. He will come back to get his people and he will come back to do a to do away with sin and affliction and suffering and death. It will all end on that day when he comes back. And so we're living in this in-between time now, this in-between time where sin and affliction still exist.

And it's our job to turn from our sin, to turn from our rebellion, to renounce our sin and trust in this Jesus Christ who was crucified for sinners.

My non-Christian friend, if you've never heard this before and you have more questions, please talk with somebody next to you or you can talk with me at the door later or anybody else standing at the doors. Don't miss out on on this fact. How in the world is it that we can be justified before a holy God? How can we have hope in the midst of just horrible afflictions? Well, it's because of Jesus Christ.

Repent of your sin and trust in him today.

And my Christian friends, it's all too clear that Jesus isn't back yet, isn't it?

We still live in this in-between time, between Jesus' first and second comings. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin and death, yes, but it's still here. And he's ruling and reigning now, but during this in-between time, we're waiting until that rule becomes apparent to all, and sin and death are done away with forever. The truth is, in the sin-soaked world, the psalmists knew back then and as we are learning now, there will always be a better time for God's people until Jesus comes back.

Now, for us waiting on this side of the cross, we can take verses 12 through 11 or 12 through 17. We can almost paraphrase them with a couple words: Come, Lord Jesus. Lord, bring your promises to pass. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Gather your people to yourself in this reign of sin.

And so the first thing that we hope for is that God would act. The second thing that we should hope for is that through God's action, future generations will be encouraged to praise the Lord. So it's similar to that first thing, but it's just a little off. We're looking to the future and we're praying, we're hoping that God would cause future generations even through our affliction, to come to know Him. And we see that in verses 18 through 22.

And the Lord has fulfilled this hope as well. The Bible is full of examples of God's faithfulness in the midst of suffering. We can think of Joseph and his imprisonment, how Joseph's suffering led to the salvation of the entire nation of Israel. And famine. Or we can think of Nehemiah's suffering despite great opposition, or Daniel in hostile Babylon, or Esther in the court of King Xerxes.

And then Hebrews 11 itself is like a summary of God's faithfulness despite afflictions being suffered. But that encouragement doesn't stop with the Bible, though, does it? For the last 2,000 years, there is story after story after story after story of God showing himself faithful to future generations.

And as you guys look around today in this room, we are that future generation. We are a part of the hope that this psalmist was looking for. God continues to encourage us. Many of us here are answers to prayers of weeping fathers and mothers. God was faithful to our parents even while we were afflicting them, even as we were rejecting them, even as we were bringing pain into their house.

God heard, God knew, and God answered. And he's teaching us today. Verses 19 through 21 say that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord. God answered and here we are praising the Lord today and we can have hope that future generations will know the Lord, that his kingdom will continue to advance. This is another good reason, by the way, to write down your prayers when you're afflicted.

As you read prayers that you've written down in the past, you can look at the ways that God has answered those prayers or maybe he hasn't but he's been faithful to you. You haven't seen the answer yet, but you know he's still with you. Written down prayers can help us with that.

And before leaving this section of verses in verse 12 through 22, I do want to point out one more thing. I wonder if you've noticed it. The affliction of the psalmist is personal. He uses my, me, my. But the hope that he looks for is corporate.

It's all national. It's the Lord's people. That's where He finds His hope.

So there are a couple of reasons this is useful for us. First, and less important but still useful, if you're suffering, it helps to be around other people who are suffering because they know what you're going through. They can sympathize with you.

Solidarity with those who know what we're going through helps us to take our eyes off of ourself and understand our own afflictions better. It helps us to put things in context.

But the second reason this is useful is that as Christians, our ultimate hope is not in the deliverance from any one affliction that we may be suffering. That's not our ultimate hope. Our hope is much bigger than that. Our hope is not just that our tears would be wiped away, but that every tear of every Christian would be wiped away. Our hope is that death itself would be no more.

Our hope is that sin would be abolished. Our hope is that Christ would come back.

The Lord may not save us from the trial that we're going through in this life. But we know that our trials will fade in the unending joy of heaven. Our hope is ultimately there with the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, this is not meant to minimize the affliction we experience in this life, so don't hear that. This doesn't mean that we don't care for one another in our sufferings. No, in fact, we do the opposite. That's why we're gathered together now. That's why we gather together as a church, to bear each other's burdens and sorrows, as Galatians 6 commands us, and as we'll remind each other when we read the church covenant tonight at the Lord's Supper.

We gather together to care for one another in our afflictions. And loving one another through affliction is messy business. We don't do this perfectly, but we do it anyway because it's what the Lord's told us to do. We help each other suffer well, and we point one another to ultimate hopes when our immediate hopes fail.

So, Christian, if you're suffering some kind of affliction alone, please tell somebody. Tell me at the door or another pastor. Talk to your friend. That you know best here at the church, just tell us your suffering so that we can weep with you. Like Job's friends, we can come alongside you and sit in silence.

Unlike Job's friends, we can come alongside you and simply pray the prayers that we see here.

If you're not suffering, I wonder how this psalm is hitting you. And you're wondering, okay, well, what do I do? Well, this psalm is a good template to inform your prayers, to pray for those who are suffering. You can let your lament of their suffering be known to God, even as you have a tough time entering into it, even as you don't know quite what to say to them to encourage them. We can be good Christian brothers and sisters to one another by praying for one another in our suffering.

So, our hopes. We should hope that he will act. We should hope that in future generations that the Lord's purposes would be made clear. But finally, we should hope in the Lord himself. This is our third main hope.

Up to this point, the psalmist has been expressing the hope that the Lord would act. But now in verses 23 through 28, He begins to hope in who God is. It's like he reminds himself there in verse 23. He says, He's broken my strength in mid-course. He shortened my days.

Oh my God, I say, take me not away in the midst of my days.

The shortness of his days leave him looking for something that's more lasting. And this is true for us as well. We should be looking through our shortened days to the One who has no shortened days. The One who has no days. He just is.

He exists for eternity and He never changes. The Lord is eternal and unchangeable. And the theological truth here that theologians refer to as God's immutability. He's unchangeable. That's all it means.

And that's all I'm gonna, that's the only word I'm gonna use from now on. Verse 27 makes this clear. But you are the same and your years have no end, eternal, unchangeable. Any time that we're confronted with our weakness and decay, we should be reminded of the one who is not weak. We should be reminded of the one who never dies, the one who never faints or grow weary.

It's because God doesn't change. That we can always trust his promises. If he speaks, it's as sure as the fact that he exists. Unlike everything and everyone here on earth, he will not fade away. When afflictions devour everything else, God just is.

In fact, he's the one who will be devouring afflictions on the last day.

The fact that the psalmist ends his prayer here should punctuate for us one of the core truths of the psalm.

When we're suffering, wherever we turn our eyes, we will find nothing but grounds for despair until we turn our eyes up and we look at the one who never dies. It's in him and in his benefits that hope is to be found. Our afflictions teach us that in the Bible that God is who matters most. He's the one who will remain. When all else fails, God will not.

And that's the answer to those questions that affliction sends us on that we talked about earlier in the sermon. And this is a truth that we need to drill into our minds and hearts because it's so easy to forget. We live in a changing world. We look at the people around us and we're tempted to think that God is like them. But this world is cursed and those people are sinners and they will fade.

So whenever we're tossed about by all of the afflictions and confusions of the world, we should look to the God who never changes and know that he is exactly where he was at first. He hasn't changed. He's still there. And then in verse 28, the author draws out the main implication of this truth about God. You can see it there.

The children of your servants shall dwell secure. Their offspring shall be established before you.

If you are one of the Lord's people, if you're one of His children, you have been chosen as His treasured possession. He has loved you with an everlasting love that doesn't fade just like He doesn't fade. It says, Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, The heavens are the work of your hands. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away. So whatever the trial, whatever the suffering, whatever the affliction, you can know that it isn't God second-guessing his commitment to you, Christian.

Why? Because his love for you is unchangeable. He never changes. You may be the taunt of the office. You may be the loneliest person in the room.

You may be wasting away with illness. You may be wasting away with grief or pain or hunger. But every building in this city, every king and every nation will be wiped away. The planets themselves will be stopped in their tracks and the stars will burn up and burn out before the Lord will cast you away. Because you are a Christian, because you've been hidden into the rock of ages, you will endure forever.

As the psalmist says here, that is a truth that we can take to the bank. The children of your servants shall dwell secure. Their offspring shall be established before you. It's this you, this God, that our hope is in, Christian, when we are suffering. Affliction may devour everything and even these mortal bodies, but affliction itself will be devoured in the end.

Affliction along with the universe will pass away, but Christian, you will remain with your Lord.

Now, in three points, we have covered the entire Psalm. But even though the psalmist's prayer is finished, the Lord isn't done speaking yet. In our affliction, we draw near to God in three movements: pray, lament, hope. And in a way, these three words can be summed up with one word: cling. In affliction, we should draw near to God by clinging.

And in particular, we should cling to Christ. This is where we'll end today. The psalmist could look at his sufferings and he could look at the Lord and find hope, but at the time of this writing, there was still a tension. How would this hope work itself out? Verse 16, When will the Lord appear in his glory?

Verse 18, How will a people yet to be created praise the Lord? Well, we find the answer to these questions in the person and work of Jesus.

If you remember the passage in Hebrews we read earlier, the author of that letter is writing about Jesus, how he's greater than the angels. And he quotes this Psalm right here to talk about who he is. And in fact, he quotes verses 25 through 27.

And the author of Hebrews is saying, you know that Lord, that unchangeable Lord who will change the universe like a garment? It's this guy right here. It's Jesus. The one who lives forever, the unchangeable God is Jesus Christ. And this God took on flesh and dwelt among us.

Friends, the fact that this is true, the fact that the Lord that the psalmist is praying to is our Lord Jesus Christ should color the way that we read the words of this psalm and really every psalm. It's Jesus who gives us the words to say back to him when we're lamenting.

When we, he didn't just look down from his holy height as verse 19 said, he took on flesh and he came down. And when he came down, he entered our affliction with us, though he didn't sin and no one was afflicted as he was. It's as if in this psalm Jesus stands beside us in our affliction and takes us by the hand and walks us through every step of the way, through the darkest night and into the morning of eternity.

One author said that the best person to have in a foxhole knows the cost of what must be done. Well, Jesus knows that cost and then some, doesn't he? As the one who suffered the full wrath of God, he's experienced the infinite wrath and come through to the other side and he still lives. So we can be confident that we too will come through to the other side with him. Jesus himself cried out to his heavenly Father in the days of his affliction.

In the darkness of Gethsemane, he was left alone and the pain of his agony was unbearable. He did not sleep. But was awake, asking that the Lord would let the cup of His anger and indignation pass by Him. He was taunted and cursed. He was, like verse 23 and 24, cut off in the midst of His days, all for His people.

He is the hope that the psalmist clings to, and so we should cling to Him as well. How should we draw near to God in affliction? We should cling to Jesus. Let's pray.

Father, we pray that you would be with each one of us as we walk through this cursed world. We pray that in affliction and health, once and plenty, that we would cling to Christ. Help us to cherish Him above everything else, especially when affliction takes everything else away, and help us to know that Christ will remain. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.