Our guest is Brenda Harness of Illinois shared this beautiful expression of David and the Pelican. Thank you Brenda for sharing! I appreciate it.
David has a pattern of pouring out his sadness in the beginning of a psalm (vs. 1-11), then contrasting his condition to the strength and glory of God (vs.12 "But thou, O Lord, shall endure forever...").
My pastor explained that the wilderness, in the Bible, is usually the desert. I believe that David is telling us that he is feeling so depressed that he feels his soul is parched/extremely dry. (I felt that way when I started going to church again in the late 1990s. The lessons and Pastor's sermon made me cry, in a good way, because I realized that they were words of nourishment for my parched soul.) So, David realizes that he is like a pelican in the desert, because there is no good thing to feed his soul, if he only relies on himself. But, then, in verse 12, David remembers the power and glory of God, and that He alone can rescue us.
So, David gives us 11 verses, or ways, in which he feels downcast/depressed, and then shows us 18 ways in which God is greater than our problems. It sounds like a good recipe to make us realize that we have so many reasons to be thankful. Blessings!
Reading Scripture: Psalm 102:1-28
1Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. 2Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. 3For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. 4My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. 5By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. 6.I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. 7I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. 8Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. 9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. 10Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. 11My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. 12But thou, O LORD, shall endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations. 13Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. 14For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. 15So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. 16When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. 17He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. 18This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. 19For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; 20To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; 21To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; 22When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. 23He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. 24I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. 25Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 26They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: 27But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. 28The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
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