Trust His Timing (Psalm 102:1–2)

Hear my prayer, oh 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.
– Psalm 102:1–2

Do you hear the desperation in the psalmist’s voice here? The summary of the Psalm, at least in my Bible, says, “A prayer of one who is afflicted when he is faint and his pouring out his complaint before the Lord.” And you feel that from the very beginning of the Psalm, the desperation and even urgency and pleading for God’s help. “Now, answer me speedily in the day when I call, I need your help right now, today.” And we see this all over the Psalms, this tension between crying out for God’s help at the moment, in certain situations, in that day. Answer me today, God I pray. And then at the same time waiting on the Lord and trusting in the Lord’s timing.

Psalm 102:1–2 teaches us two aspects of our faith journey.

And both are a part of the journey of faith. We trust that God hears us in the moment when we call and God can answer us at that moment. At the same time, we need to trust in the timing of God, that sometimes he doesn’t answer in the way we would like to see in that moment. Sometimes his purposes are worked out over time, which could involve days, months, years, decades, or ultimately all of eternity. But Psalm 102:1–2 and really the whole Psalm is a reminder that it is good and right to ask God in prayer for answers today, for provision today at the moment, even as we trust in his timing that may be different than ours.

And I just want to encourage you to think about in your life what are you desperate for today, for God to do in your life or in someone else’s life who you’re praying for? I want to encourage you to press in as we pray in a moment with those specific things in your mind and let’s plead for God to answer today.

And at the same time, let’s do so with trust that he can answer today and he might answer today. He has the power to do that. At the same time, we trust not just his power, but his wisdom and his love and his timing. So even as we call out for things today, let’s pray with faith that God holds not just today, but tomorrow and all the days of our lives in his hands. And he’s good and works out his purposes according to his wise timing.

Psalm 102:1–2 encourages us to cry out to God for his provision.

So we pray, hear our prayers, oh Lord, let our cries come to you as each of us who is praying right now. God, we have things going on in our lives. We have things that come to our mind in others’ lives and our family and friends and our churches, in our cities, in our countries, in the world. As we look around the world and we cry out to you, we want to be faithful intercessors for people around us and people around the world.

So hear our cries coming to you for all kinds of things in our lives and others’ lives and in the world around us. Don’t hide your face from us in the day of our distress, God, when we are distressed, again on our behalf or others’ behalf. Incline your ear to us, we pray. Answer us speedily, we pray. God, we are asking for your provision, for your help. For demonstrations of your power today in response to cries in our hearts, in response to needs, in our lives, in response to needs in others’ lives.

God, answer us speedily, we ask you. We plead before you with confidence that you have the power to change circumstances today, that you have the power to reverse circumstances, to redeem circumstances. Just think of so many different ways you have the power to heal today. You have the power to provide today. You have the power to restore today. God, we pray that you would answer us speedily.

We ask for that with trust in your power to do that and with trust in your timing and your wisdom that you see things we don’t see and you know things we don’t know. We pray for your help, for us, and for our faith. Help us to hold fast to you if you decide to answer our prayers differently than we might expect or want in light of what we see. Help us to trust that you see a much bigger picture.

This verse is a call to a deeper trust in God.

We trust in you, oh God. We trust in your power, in your wisdom, in your love, in your care for us. And we praise you that you actually do hear us. God, forgive us for times when you don’t answer and we start to wonder if you’re even listening to us. God, I confess my tendency to think that way. Does it even matter that I prayed? God, forgive me, forgive us for even thinking that.

We praise you for your promise to hear us,… That our cries always come to you… And you answer us according to your love for us, not some reluctant picture to provide for us. We praise you as our faithful provider in response to our prayers. And we say, God, we need your help today. We trust you with today and tomorrow and every day of our lives for all of eternity. And God, we want to intercede with this kind of urgency.

Prayer for the Kaitag People

Lord, for unreached people, we pray God for the Kaitag people of Russia, for 30,000 of them. God, answer us speedily today as we’re calling out for the Kaitag… Cause your salvation to spread to them today we pray. Lord, cause your church to go to them today, cause the Gospel to become alive in their hearts today. For disciples we made, we pray for the salvation of somebody among the Kaitag people today. Answer us speedily this week. Oh God, cause the gospel to spread to the Kaitag people. And to unreached people groups in new ways today, this week. God, we pray for this all according to your Word in Psalm 102:1–2 in Jesus’ name… He who makes this privilege of crying out to you speedily and you hearing us, makes this privilege possible. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.