06 Jul
2025

The Infinite Becomes Finite

Passage: Psalm 102

“A poor man, one single poor man, is praying in this psalm, and he does not pray silently. We have the opportunity to listen to him and find out who he is; and perhaps we shall find that he is none other than the one of whom the apostle wrote [in 2 Corinthians 8:9].”  — Augustine, Exposition of the Psalms

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Share an experience or place that has impressed you with God’s greatness and by contrast our smallness.

Read Psalm 102. What does this psalm show you about God’s character and about being his follower? What challenges, encourages, or sparks questions for you in this passage?

Psalm 102 invites us to pray our pain and see that God responds to our pain. We are told that this psalm is “A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the LORD.” Consider the self-descriptions of the one praying: feels distant from God, grief stricken, beat down, isolated, and can’t sleep. How is this psalm equip and guide us in faithfulness when we feel this kind of pain?
In what ways are you prone to respond to pain with any of the following worldviews? Stoic/fatalist (tough it out); epicurean/numb (be as comfortable as possible); platonist/heartless (“let this world go to hell” material is evil). How does Psalm 102 give a different perspective?
Read Psalm 102:27-28. How do these promises address our pain in this life?
The God who forgives is the God who stays with us. He is with us and establishes us despite our pain and troubles. Scotty Smith, in Searching for Grace writes, “Of all the enemies of peace, shame is at the top. The names on our birth certificates are written with mere ink; the names written on our hearts by evil and by failure-and by some people we should be able to trust—have been inscribed with permanent marker. Only the grace of God can possibly begin to rewrite our shame.” How can we work the reality of our union with Jesus because of his grace into our hearts? He always loves us, what encourages and helps us to rest in his love?
Our union with Jesus propels us to be in union with each other. Who can you share the promises and truths of Psalm 102 with this week in conversation or in praying for them?

What from this passage and this discussion is something you want to put into practice or be more aware of this week?

PRAYER

Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?

Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”