Year 5, Day 233: Psalm 102

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

Okay, so I’ll begin with a little confession.  This psalm isn’t exactly about God as Father.  The psalm is largely about our need of a Father.  The psalm is about how we approach God as a Father.  So this psalm is indirectly about God as Father.

I couldn’t help but read the pleas in this psalm in the same light as a child coming before his or her dad and listing out all of their problems in life.  Dads do so much more than this, but listening to a child’s problems is a part of what dads do.  Being a strong rock in a tumultuous world is part of a father’s job description.  Being able to bear the weight of the life of someone you care about is an inherent part of what it means to be a dad.

That’s what this psalmist who is coming to God expects.  I don’t get the idea that the psalmist is asking the Father to make their life all roses.  I don’t think the psalmist would have any kind of high expectation like that.  But the psalmist does want a place to come and lay his burdens while knowing that they are heard and cared about.  The psalmist does want to come and know that he is not alone in those burdens.  The psalmist does desire to be able to locate himself in the midst of God’s eternal kingdom rather than in his own temporal kingdom.  The psalmist wants to look to the Father and find peace, hope, and love.  That’s what the Father should be to us.

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