Psalm 102:18-22 - October 6, 2009

Ps 102:18-22 "Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD: 19 "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, 20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death." 21 So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD." NIV

Psalm 102:18-22 presents another stirring glimpse into the nature of God’s ways. We serve an eternal God whose dealings with man span from generation to generation. Verse 18 of this Psalm points us to the impact that this reality has on how He thinks and deals with man. The authors of today write to tell a story or to attempt to impact their own generation but in this passage we see God inspiring the thoughts of this anointed author with a desire to write for a future generation, a people not yet created. Can you conceive of writing for the sake of those who haven’t even been born yet? This passage identifies the fact that we were on God’s mind thousands of years before we even walked the face of the earth.
Throughout the pages of scripture this principle can be seen. God inspired men from the time of King David to write with an inspired pen, to pray from an inspired heart in such a way that it would be recorded and preserved so that its message would still be speaking to us thousands of years later. This is a profound understanding when we consider that God was preparing for us millennium before we were born. The understanding of this principle also compels us to consider that if this is true what was the goal of this communication? What message was God preparing for us all those years ago and what did He seek to produce in the hearts of succeeding generations? The answer to this question teaches us something about God. “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:” The answer is clear. God desires praise and so He has recorded His awesome deeds so that man may always remember His power and His goodness and by this testimony be inspired to
praise Him.
The second aspect of this passage is equally stirring as it provokes us to thought. The very fact that God would consider a particular deed of His worthy of emphatically recording for future generations also requires us to ask “what about the deeds of God is so important that He emphasizes that ‘this is being recorded for future generations?’” To understand this concept is to receive a rich insight into the heart of God. Those things that God chooses to emphasize about Himself should be received with utmost reverence by the heart of man. In other words, “if it matters to God, it should matter to us!"
So what it is that is so highly reverenced by the Lord? What has God done that He considers worthy of eternal remembrance and as cause for praise? "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, 20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death." The answer is simple and simply wonderful: MERCY! God is a merciful God and He has seen fit to establish this fact as a central motivation for man to praise Him. He is watching over the needy of the earth and He will answer their cries. This is the truth that He wants remembered and this is cause for praise! Jeremiah captured this revelation of the Lord’s heart so eloquently in Jer 9:23-24 where he wrote “This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD” NIV. God is looking for a people who will understand and know that He is a God who delights in mercy. Let this be how men from all generations remember the goodness of the Lord.