Psalm 102:6, 7 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.… Removed from the interests and activities of life, the bed ridden sufferer feels as if left alone; his very weakness and helplessness make him feel lonely; there must be long hours of the day when he is actually alone, and long, sleepless hours of the night when he seems all alone; and he must go altogether alone down into the "valley of the shadow." Here the psalmist uses as figures three birds which were regarded, in his day, as types of loneliness. The pelican is the bird of the swamp; the owl is the night bird of the desolate ruin; the sparrow is melancholy when it loses its mate. Tristram describes the pelican as sitting motionless for hours after it has gorged itself with food, its head sunk on its shoulders, and its bill resting on its breast. There is a bird in Western Asia, sometimes called a sparrow, which has a custom of sitting solitary upon the habitation of man. It never associates with any other, and only at one season with its own mate; and even then it is often seen quite alone upon the house top, where it warbles its sweet and plaintive strains, and continues its song, moving from roof to roof. I. LONELINESS AS AN ELEMENT OF TROUBLE. There is a forced loneliness, and there is a sought loneliness. That sought loneliness may be right, worthy, useful; but it may also be wrong, trying to others, and making needlessly difficult the work of the nurse. Those who would cheer us by their presence are too often frowned away. Sick people fail sometimes in due self-restraint; they become self-centred, and inconsiderate of the feelings of others. The wish to be alone may be quite wrong. II. LONELINESS AS A CALL TO CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY. Waiting times of pain seem very long; waiting times of mere necessary resting without pain may even seem longer. The visit of mere good cheer is Christian service. The sight of another face, the sound of another voice, the touch of another hand, are full of truest relief and comfort. Ease the lonely hours of every sick friend within your reach. III. LONELINESS AS AN APPEAL FOR DIVINE MANIFESTATION. That is the point we have in the psalm. God is the Supreme Friend of the lonely heart. Compare "Alone, yet not alone, because the Father is with me." Jesus on the cross is the sublime model of loneliness; yet he could say, "My God, my God!" - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.WEB: I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places. |
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