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!
This prayer belongs to the faithful in Babylon's captivity, when deliverance drew near. They lament their afflictions, plead for the temple's restoration, and recall God's promises to steady their hope. The prophet shaped it as a form of prayer when the seventy years were nearly finished and comfort was about to break forth.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 102:1-28
Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Do not seem as if thou didst not see me, or wouldst not own me. Smile now at any rate. Reserve thy frowns for other times when I can bear them better, if, indeed, I can ever bear them; but now in my heavy distress, favour me with looks of compassion. Incline thine ear unto me.
The title of this psalm is very observable; it is a prayer of the afflicted. It was composed by one that was himself afflicted, afflicted with the church and for it; and on those that are of a public spirit afflictions of that kind lie heavier than any other.
Commenting on Psalm 102:1-11