12 But You, O Lord, [l]abide forever,
And Your [m]name to all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion;
For it is time to be gracious to her,
For the appointed time has come.
14 Surely Your servants [n]find pleasure in her stones
And feel pity for her dust.
15 [o]So the [p]nations will fear the name of the Lord
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
16 For the Lord has built up Zion;
He has appeared in His glory.
17 He has regarded the prayer of the [q]destitute
And has not despised their prayer.
There are times when it feels like the translation missed the mark, and verse 1 seem that way to me. “But You, O Lord, abide forever…” Well sure, He lives forever, we know that. But why “abide”? When I heard that word, I think of the definition that says “to stay in a place”. But then, what place? Why does it use that word if it doesn’t say where God abides?
But abide could have been translated to “sit enthroned”, which makes more sense, but where is He enthroned? We are told elsewhere that God does not live in a temple created by human hands. That is, while His presence might show up there, or elsewhere, He cannot be contained, and He is everywhere we go. However, that is a bit of a rabbit trail from the verse that jumped out at me, even if it is somewhat related.
In v. 13, we see that “the appointed time has come.” And who appointed it? God did… because He is enthroned forever. That is, He is the King, and His authority is the ultimate and utter end. You can’t “pass the buck” further than God, because whatever He decrees, it happens. And it only happens when it is the right time.
We may feel at times, destitute or despised. Yet the psalmist reminds us that God has not only “heard” our prayer, but has regarded it and not despised it. That is, God actually pays attention to your prayer, and doesn’t simply throw it in the “junk mail” to be discarded. The God, our God, our Father, regarded your prayer, and more than that, He has a plan. He’s always had a plan, from the beginning of time, and time and again we see His timing is perfect.
There are countless stories of God’s timing, from the seemingly innocuous to folks who were delayed 30 seconds only to miss a serious accident by seconds. So don’t give up, “make your petition known to God” and trust Him to handle it. Really, truly, trust Him to take care of the situation, and more importantly, to take care of You. He’s got this. He’s got you, always.