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Day 88

Psalm 102:10a "Your indignation and Your wrath..."

Day 88 – Psalm 102

“Your indignation and Your wrath…” Psalm 102:10a

DISTRESSED RESPONSE

The psalmist, on learning that he had very determined enemies responded in deep distress.

“For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
Because of Your indignation and Your wrath;
For You have lifted me up and cast me away.”
Psalm 102:9-10

1. “Eaten ashes like bread”

a) Ashes were often thrown over the head to express deep sorrow.
b) Eaten ashes like bread is a colloquial statement.
i) It expresses an extreme sense of distress and sorrow.
ii) As bread was his staple, so ashes were now his daily “consumption”.

2. “Mingled my drink with weeping”

a) A graphic picture!
b) Copious tears were shed and they trickled into the cup used for drinking.
c) The combined ideas (bread and drink) portray a very dejected and distressed individual.

3. Added sorrow

a) The psalmist felt that God was angry with him.
i) He felt that God was indignant towards him.
ii) And that God’s wrath was upon him.
b) His reasoning:-
i) God had lifted him up from his normal place in life.
ii) He had cast him away.
c) How true was this perception?

This was the personal perception of the psalmist. In his dejected state of mind he felt that God had virtually become his enemy. However this was not something that he could prove!