Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 102:23

"He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days." — Psalms 102:23 (ASV)

He weakened my strength in the way — Margin, as in Hebrew, “afflicted.” The idea is that God had taken his strength away; He had weakened him, humbled him, and brought him low by sorrow. The word “way” refers to the course he was pursuing. In his journey of life, God had thus afflicted, humbled, and prostrated him.

The psalmist here turns from the exulting view he had of the future (Psalms 102:21–22) and resumes his complaint—the remembrance of his troubles and sorrows (Psalms 102:3–11). He speaks, doubtless, in the name of his people, and describes troubles which were common to them all. Perhaps the allusion to his troubles here may be designed, as such a recollection should do, to heighten his sense of God's goodness and mercy in the anticipated blessings of the future.

He shortened my days — (Compare Job 21:21 and Psalm 89:45). That is, He seemed to be about to cut me off from life and bring me to the grave. The psalmist felt so confident that he would die—that he could not endure these troubles but must sink under them—that he spoke as if it were already done. .