Psalm 102
Transitions are Faith Builders
Or
When the End is Not the End
As we journey through these Psalms we come to Psalm 102 where the Psalmist has come to the end of himself. As we look at the nation of Israel (the twelve tribes) we see that they will go through many transitions that look like the end. When Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed and the people were taken to Babylon, it seemed like the end of the nation. The reality was God was taking them through a transition.
God established the people of Israel as a nation to demonstrate His desire to bless those who would learn to follow the Law he had given the nation. However, the nation drifted from following the Law of God to following the ways of the world. This was a slow transition that would eventually bring them to an abrupt end. In the book of Judges we see the pattern of freedom to slavery repeated over and over. When in servitude to the nations that overpowered them they would cry out to God and he would send a deliverer.
From the time of the Judges to the establishment of the Kingdom, the pattern repeated and Israel (the ten tribes) was taken by Assyria. The nation was destroyed and the people were scattered throughout the Assyrian empire. Judah, (the remaining two tribes) was taken by Babylon years later and it seemed like the kingdom age was over. Indeed, that was the case with other nations in world history, but what looks like the end for the combined nation of Israel will not be the end. The people in exile are going through a transition. This Psalm describes the end of the process where the people turn from their old ways back to God.
No matter what we are going through the end is not the end when we realize God is God and He is in control. The psalmist realizes this starting in verse 12 and finds hope. From hope springs faith. Though the nation has been destroyed and scattered like stones in the dust, God will take those stones and rebuild them into a nation built upon the rock. Matthew 7:24
Psalm 102 is also a prophesy for us today as verse 18 makes clear. God has a plan and that plan will be accomplished. In 70 AD the nation of Israel was again destroyed and the people scattered throughout the world. In 1948 the unheard of happened. The nation was reformed and established and remains today even though they are surrounded by enemies. God’s kingdom will come and God’s plan will be accomplished, even if we have to go through difficult transitions. Those transitions are meant to bring us to the end of ourselves but that is not the end. The purpose of these transitions are to rein us in and bring us back to God and His plan for us. When we realize this and surrender to what God is doing in our life, there is a peace beyond explanation. But that is always the case when we let go of our will and say to God, “your will be done!”
Transitions are faith builders.
Pastor Dave