Walk Of Life – Day 05, December – Thoughts From The Book Of Psalms
Psalm 102
You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come. – Psalm 102:13
In a power point Presentation that happened very recently in the college the topic that received the first prize is on “Sustainable Food Production” Being a judge for that competition I was really spell bound when the student elaborated on the advance techniques used in Israel for agriculture. There is no other country that can stand in par with Israel in the abundance of harvest that it reaps with very much limited resources like water and space. It’s not just in agriculture that Israel stand at the top list, it’s in each of the advancements be it in nuclear weapons, defense mechanisms, economy, finance, science, technology or in anything as such there is no one who can stand in par with them or against them. The whole world stands in awe of their prosperity but such a nation with wise rulers could not recognize their Messiah.
We read in John 1:11 as “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” But this Psalm 102 is a Psalm of hope to the Israelite. From verses 12 through 22 the Psalmist speaks about the restoration of Israel. How God will have mercy upon them.
Romans 11: 12 says “But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!” How much true this is.
One of those great and glorious things which the world, especially, the people of God in the world, are in expectation of at this day, is, The general conversion of the Israelitish Nation.
The Psalmist says “For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven the Lord viewed the earth, To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To release those appointed to death, To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem”
This is the work by which the Almighty God builds up Zion, this is His “appearing in His glory” so that He might be known and feared among all nations. This is what it looks like. And what do we see? We see a God who looks down from heaven to earth, who is concerned with the groaning of those who are doomed, with the agonies of the desperate, with the prayers of the destitute. His glory is His concern for the broken and helpless and hopeless. That is significant.
And not only His concern, not only His attention, but His action. He is not just aware of the groaning of the prisoners, but His “looking down” is effective, it sets the prisoners free….it sets free those who were “doomed to die.” And it sets them free why? So that they might then turn around and praise the name of The Omnipotent and Omniscient God. His people are redeemed in order to rejoice in Him, and He is revealed to them as the one in whom they rejoice by the act of their redemption!
They are saved in order to praise His name (v.21), and it is in saving them that He reveals His name (v.15-16). Thus, it is by considering their salvation that they will know the Name of the one whom they were saved to know, as the words of a song by Nathan Partain say,
“He sets free to be known.”
Indeed, He sets free to be known, and the act by which He sets us free is the act in which He is known.
Can we bow offer our prayers for the nation Israel and its salvation which is going to be very much glorious.
