A Solitary Bird

Psalm 102:1-11

A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the LORD.

1LORD, hear my prayer!

Listen to my plea!

2Don’t turn away from me

in my time of distress.

Bend down your ear

and answer me quickly when I call to you,

3for my days disappear like smoke,

and my bones burn like red-hot coals.

4My heart is sick, withered like grass,

and I have lost my appetite.

5Because of my groaning,

I am reduced to skin and bones.

6I am like an owl in the desert,

like a lonely owl in a far-off wilderness.

7I lie awake,

lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.

8My enemies taunt me day after day.

They mock and curse me.

9I eat ashes instead of my food.

My tears run down into my drink

10because of your anger and wrath.

For you have picked me up and thrown me out.

11My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.

I am withering like grass.

Have you ever noticed how birds often line up on telephone wires? Who knows why they do this, but they look like a church choir getting in place for the anthem. One bird flies up to join the already crowded line, and the others make room.

You’ve certainly seen how geese form V’s as they migrate north or south. How do they decide who gets to be the leader? Do they have some official pecking order?

Have you heard birds calling to one another in the night or exciting one another into an early morning chorus? Birds are social creatures. They instinctively relate to other birds, so that often a whole flock seems to act as one.

And that’s why there’s nothing quite as lonely as a solitary bird (see verses 6-7). It calls, and no one answers. It flies, but without a formation. The psalmist felt like that, and often we do, too.

But here’s an encouraging bit of trivia for you. One of the odder symbols the early Christians used for Christ was a pelican, based on an alternate translation of the Hebrew word that is translated “owl” in verse 6. Whichever bird the author was referring to, when we consider it an image of Christ, it can be a source of comfort. Jesus knew what it feels like to be alone, too, and he can identify with us when we are lonely, struggling, and as out of place as . . . well, as a pelican in the desert.

We would leave, O God, to Thee

Every anxious care and fear;

Thou the troubled thought can see,

Thou canst dry the bitter tear.

B. L. GASKELL

Fascinating Fact

There’s an ancient sundial in Venice with the words of verse 11 inscribed on it.

Notable Quotable

“The Lord allows his babbling children to speak to Him in their own form of speech.”

DAVID DICKSON