I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the ruins. Psalm 102:6 NASB Pelican/ owl – Why pelican? Why owl? First, let’s address the Christian mythology about the pelican. It starts with Thomas Aquinas. During the breeding season, the Dalmatian pelican’s pouch turns blood red, and the birds often press…
Because of the loudness of my groaning my bones cling to my flesh. Psalm 102:5 NASB Loudness – Read this again. How can the volume of my groaning be the cause of bones clinging to flesh? Does sound have anything to do with the consequences of malnutrition? In fact, severely malnourished human beings, bones exposed because of…
My heart has been struck like grass and has withered, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread. Psalm 102:4 NASB Has been struck – We might use the idiom “Go pound sand!” but I’ve never heard anyone say, “Go beat grass!” That makes me wonder what the psalmist had in mind when he chose this verb, nākâ. Certainly…
For my days have ended in smoke, and my bones have been scorched like a hearth. Psalm 102:3 NASB Have ended – Legacy. Does that term bother you? Do you think about what you will leave behind? Ecclesiastes suggests that your legacy better not be money, fame, or power. Those ephemeral status symbols won’t mean much after…
Do not hide Your face from me on the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; On the day when I call answer me quickly. Psalm 102:2 NASB I call – Do you remember the introduction of this psalm? “The afflicted man when he pours out. . .” šāpak. Then there’s the first verse…
Do not hide Your face from me on the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; On the day when I call answer me quickly. Psalm 102:2 NASB My distress – Why do earthquakes occur? The simple answer is that geological plates move under stress. The shift in the land is what we call…
Do not hide Your face from me on the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; On the day when I call answer me quickly. Psalm 102:2 NASB Do not hide – In his book The Prophets, Abraham Heschel wrote: “To be able to pray, one must alter the course of consciousness, one must…
Hear my prayer, Lord! And let my cry for help come to You. Psalm 102:1 NASB Come to You – “‘There are three ways in which a man expresses deep sorrow: the man on the lowest level cries; the man on the second level is silent; the man on the highest level knows how to turn his…
Hear my prayer, Lord! And let my cry for help come to You. Psalm 102:1 NASB Cry for help – Isn’t punctuation wonderful? With these little extra characters in language, we can convey the emotional context of a sentence. Just imagine what writing would be like without ! or “ ”, or ? Why, you’d have to…
Hear my prayer, Lord! And let my cry for help come to You. Psalm 102:1 NASB Hear – Moses and David. The great Shema and the lesser Shema. “Hear, O Israel” and “YHVH, hear my prayer.” Both from the same root and the same consciousness. Both dependent on relationship. And both with multiple Semitic meanings. “šāmaʿ has…
