Psalm 102:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee
What would you do if you fell off of a ship mid-Pacific Ocean and the ship continued on without you? I think you would probably dog paddle and try to remember everything you learned in Junior Sailor’s Organization. You would try everything you could, and then at some point I think you would probably pray. I think most people would. You say, “What if he is an agnostic or atheist?” I think he would take a chance. Do you think he would not consider praying, not cry out to God almost involuntarily? There may be some who would spend an hour in the ocean before drowning and never think to pray, but I believe most people would instinctively pray.
I have a friend who used to work with professional athletes. He would give the gospel to these young men in their twenties who were making a lot of money in the NFL. Now, the average player in the NFL probably gets cut after the first five years or so, and they are not a household name unless you really keep up with the game. If they are cut, they may or may not have an education or job to fall back on. This friend of mine said, “A lot of times these men would come to Christ after they had been cut because they realized that they did need God.”
When you have the world by the tail, you don’t need God or anything else. You think you have everything you need. When all of that is gone, you realize that maybe you are more needy than you realized. When these athletes realized that my friend was not interested in their fame but in their souls, that he genuinely loved them with the love of Christ, they were open to the gospel.
The truth is that prayer is for those who are needy and know it. Psalm 102 says, “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.” Prayer is for those who are needy and know it. That is evidenced by the word cry. A synonym of pray is cry. There is an urgency. The superscription of this psalm is “a prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed.” I know what that feels like. I also thankfully have the relief of soul to know that there is someone who is greater than I am and knows more than I do, and that is God.
Verse 17 says, “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.” There were times when men like David prayed because they was in trouble. Was David poor? He was not poor financially, but all of us at some point go beyond the resources of abilities. We outstrip our resources. We are poor.
Verse 2 says, “When I am in trouble.” We have trouble! We are not talking about virtue. Sometimes our troubles are self-inflicted. In verse 10 the psalmist indicates “because of thine indignation and thy wrath.” That is where this trouble came from. We have strayed from God and He is correcting us. We all want to have noble injuries, to be needy, but in a noble way.
I remember when I was in college, I used to hope I would come back to college after Christmas break with a broken leg that I had broken on some double black diamond trail in the Rockies or Jackson, Wyoming. My schoolmates would say, “Rice, what happened to you?” I would say, “I broke my leg. I took a fifty-foot jump and it didn’t land well.” That would make me a hero. But with my luck I would probably slip on a banana peel in my kitchen in Tennessee and have to make up a story when I went back to college. Who wants to admit your need is a broken leg because of a banana peel? So, this is trouble, not virtue.
Sometimes we make a list to remember what our prayers are. I’m not against having a prayer list, but when a person is afflicted and troubled, looking for a speedy answer, he doesn’t need a list to remind him of what he needs. Prayer is for those and from those who are needy and know it.
There is a sense of urgency here. Verse 2 says, “Incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.” He is saying, “Lord, I need help and please do it now.” Verse 13 says, “For the time to favor her [Zion]…is come.” He is saying, “The time I need help is now. I have little time.” What a contrast that is to a God who is not hurried, worried, or poor, but is infinite.
The psalmist says in verses 11-12, “My days are like a shadow that declineth… but thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever.” Verses 25-26 say, “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure.” Verse 27 continues, “But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.” There is a contrast between my need and God’s ability, my trouble and God’s power. My limit on time and God’s eternal ability and agency. God is never worried or hurried. We are needy, whether we know it or not. The question is whether we know it and know whom to ask for help. God helps those who ask because prayer is for those who are needy and know it.