Bible Commentaries

Psalms 102:24

The text is an earnest, impassioned prayer, a prayer against death; and the fact which gives it its earnestness and impassioned energy is that he who offers it is in "the midst of his days." Men in middle life are very apt to look upon death as an improbable event so far as they are concerned, and to make their calculations and shape their course accordingly.

I. The reasons for this fact. (1) The man in middle life has reasons taken from his circumstances and relations which render life to him very important. The ties which bind him to the world are now the strongest. He has taken his place in society, and is now sustaining his most important earthly responsibilities. (2) The spirit of enterprise is now most active. Man is forming plans which will require years to develop; and those plans constitute the objects of his existence, the centre of his heart's warmest feelings. (3) It is a fact that fewer men die at the meridian than at any other point in human life. This fact forms the ground of men's calculations in reference to life.

II. The effects of this state of mind. (1) Of all men, those who are in the "midst of their days" are least prepared to die. (2) The legitimate effects of the Gospel are very rarely seen for the first time in persons who are passing through the meridian of life. This seems to be a period in human existence when the Spirit of God seldom achieves any signal victories. Such thoughts should arouse to feeling, awaken to anxiety, and prompt to inquiry all to whom they have reference.

E. Mason, A Pastor's Legacy, p. 1.

References: Psalms 102:24.—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 377; J. Ker, Old Testament Outlines, p. 135. Psalms 102:26.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, 1st series, p. 44. Psalms 102:27.—W. Baird, The Hallowing of our Common Life, p. 1. Psalms 102:28.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. x., p. 137. Psalms 103:1.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1078. Psalms 103:1-5.—G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 8.