Lord, Hear My Prayer

Representative Text

1 Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry
Have ready access unto Thee;
When in distress to Thee I fly,
O hide not Thou Thy face from me.
Attend, O Lord, to my desire,
O haste to answer when I pray;
For grief consumes my strength like fire,
My days as smoke pass swift away.

2 My heart is withered like the grass,
And I forget my daily bread;
In lonely grief my days I pass
And sad my thoughts upon my bed.
My foes reproach me all the day,
My drink is tears, my bread is grief,
For in Thy wrath I pine away,
My days are like a fading leaf.

3 But Thou, Jehovah, shalt endure,
Thy throne forever is the same;
And to all generations sure
Shall be Thy great memorial Name.
The time for Zion’s help is near,
The time appointed in Thy love;
O let Thy gracious aid appear,
Look Thou in mercy from above.

4 O Lord, regard the prayer of those
Who love the walls of Zion well,
Whose hearts are heavy for her woes,
Who sad amid her ruins dwell.
Thy power and glory shall appear,
And Zion’s walls shall be restored;
Then all the kings of earth shall fear
And heathen nations serve the Lord.

5 The Lord, exalted on His throne,
Looked down from heaven with pitying eye
To still the lowly captive’s moan
And save His people doomed to die.
All men in Zion shall declare
His gracious Name with one accord,
When kings and nations gather there
To serve and worship God the Lord.

Source: Psalter Hymnal (Red): doctrinal standards and liturgy of the Christian Reformed Church #209

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First Line:	Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry Have ready access unto Thee
Title:	Lord, Hear My Prayer
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Psalm 102
(hymns)

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Notes

A prayer asking God to have compassion on Zion and the LORD's anointed and to rebuild the devastated city to the praise of God s glory among the nations.

Scripture References:
st. l = vv. 1-3
st. 2 = vv. 4-11
st. 3 = vv. 12-17
st. 4 = vv. 18-22
st. 5 = vv. 23-26
st. 6 = vv. 1-2, 27-28

The psalmist opens with an appeal to God to hear his prayer (st. 1) and describes his mournful state because of God's wrath (st. 1-2). Still, he is confident that God will rebuild Zion, to the dismay of all its enemies (st. 3). The psalmist asks that God's deliverance be recorded for future generations so that the praise of the LORD will resound in Jerusalem when peoples and nations gather there for worship (st. 4). Finally the psalmist expresses confidence that though heaven and earth will perish (st. 5), God will remain the same; future generations of God's people will continue to live before the LORD (st. 6). Marie J. Post (PHH 5) altered stanzas 1 through 3 from the 1912 Psalter and versified stanzas 4 through 6 in 1985. Psalm 102 is one of the traditional group of penitential psalms (along with 6, 32, 38, 51, 130, and 143.

Liturgical Use:
Penitence; expressions of confidence in God's unfailing commitment to his church, even though it may suffer in a hostile world; Christian worship focusing on illness (st. 5).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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