Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

It's a Psalm day, and we got three in a row this time, no flipping around. We opened with Psalm 102.

It's a personal lament, but the psalmist also applies his prayers and concerns to Israel at large.

Whoever wrote this feels certain God will hear him and even ask God to respond quickly.

He feels utterly alone, and his body is breaking under the stress and sadness.

We don't know the reason for his distress, but it seems like he doesn't either.

And in that way, this Psalm is probably a comfort to you if you're in a spot where you can't make sense of why things are happening to you the way they are. In verses 9 through 10, the psalmist attributes his pain to God's anger. Maybe he's wrong and God's not angry, and this is just some emotion the psalmist is feeling. But if he's right and God's angry, then since God only ever gets angry at sin,

we can assume his circumstances are the result of his sin, and he's being disciplined into repentance.

In verse 9, he also mentions ashes, which is another confusing reference that leaves us uncertain about what's happening.

Ashes are common signs of both mourning and repentance. So when he says he eats ashes, maybe he's

mourning, but maybe he's repenting. Then he juxtaposes his temporary affliction with God's

eternal reign. I think it's a wonderful transition, but it's also

probably comforting to him. By remembering the relationship God has with his people, he reminds

himself that God will rescue him somehow, someday. He knows that Yahweh will help Israel,

and as a result, other nations will be brought into Zion as well. He ultimately

trusts God's goodness in the midst of his tragic circumstances. I wish we knew who wrote this

Psalm because I love it. While Psalm 102 looked ahead hopefully, Psalm 103 spends a lot of time looking

back and praising God for his goodness to his people through the years. David wrote this

psalm, and the fact that he's praising God for things he didn't personally experience with that

he benefits from, it shows that he truly understands the meta-narrative here, the overarching

storyline of God and his people. David starts out by commanding himself how to think, feel,

and act, and he does it by remembering

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