"I am like a pelican of the wilderness."

By Dennis Edwards:

Psalm 102: 6 "I am like a pelican of the wilderness." 

Now what does that mean, "A pelican of the wilderness?" I remember one day watching a wildlife documentary of Africa. It showed how after the heavy spring downfall a lake would be created. The parent pelicans would come, nest and rear their young along this lake. But over the course of the summer, the lake would slowly start to dry up. The adult pelicans would eventually fly away with the young pelicans old enough to fly. However, those pelicans which were last to be born and still not so sure about flight would stay by the diminishing lake. Eventually they would starve to death as the lake turned to desert once again. Like verse 5 in the same psalm: "By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin."[1] So the author is painting a picture of his desperation for God, like a dying pelican in desperate need of water and rescue, so do we look to God for help in the time of great affliction and distress.

These verses remind me of the first verses in Psalm 42 which say, "As the hart (deer) pants after the water brook, so pants my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?"[2] Again we see the author comparing his desire and need for God like a deer who is panting in his search for a watery brook to drink from. We need God´s presence in our lives. We need His Spirit running through us to bring us happiness and to fill up that aching void in our heart which He has made for Himself alone to fill.

Are you searching for God´s presence in your life? Are you like a dying pelican needing rescue or a deer panting in need of a fresh drink from a cool mountain stream? The Lord says "Ye shall seek Me and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart."[3] Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount "They which do hunger and thirst after righteousness..shall be filled."[4] Are you hungering and thirsting after God and His goodness? Later on in the same sermon Jesus says, "...seek and ye shall find;..."[5] Are you seeking for Him and His will in your life?

If we go back to Psalm 42, the author keeps repeating how his soul is cast down. He says, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why are thou disquieted in me?"[6] Is your soul cast down? Has some personal problem been weighing on you so that you are weighed down with sorrow, or doubt or confusion that you have lost your joy in living? You have lost your direction. You find it hard to get up in the morning. There is a certain dryness in your life.

Though the author of the psalm is feeling that dryness of spirit, he does not stay there. He calls out to God for His mercy and help. He reminds God of His promises unto His children. He says, "...All thy waves and billows are gone over me."[7] Here he sounds like he feels like a drowning man going down for the last time. But he continues with, "Yet the Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life."[8] He reminds God of His loving kindness and he keeps God´s word as his song and prayer in the night season.

Finally, he reminds himself to not lose his hope in God. he says, "Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."[8] Please do not lose hope in God if you are feeling down and out and with no sunrise on the horizon. God loves you and will work things out as He always has before. Do not lose hope! Call upon Him with all your heart. He is not far from any of us as Paul has so wisely said."That they (all nations) should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being."[10]

So, lift up your hands in praise unto Him. God loves you and is going to take care of you. Meditate on His promises found in His word. Read His word and it shall be "a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path."[11]  May God bless and keep you and make you a blessing to others, in Jesus´ name we pray.

Footnotes:

[1] Psalm 102:5
[2] Psalm 42:1-3
[3] Jeremiah 29:13
[4] Matthew 5:6
[5] Matthew 7:7
[6] Psalm 42:5
[7] Psalm 42:7
[8] Psalm 42:8
[9] Psalm 42:11
[10] Acts 17:27-28
[11] Psalm 119:105