This prayer-psalm reflects what our Lord Jesus Christ prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. There was suffering, anxiety, and urgency in His prayer, as with “strong crying and tears,” and His heart was opened before the Father. In this psalm, the suffering in the garden, and then when our Lord was on the cross, is put into words that strike our emotions and imaginations when we read the descriptive words. The first eleven verses remind us that He was “in trouble.” He was alone and rejected. He was despised and mocked. He was humiliated and put to shame. Then the Father replies, “Thou, O Lord, shall endure forever.” Toward the end of the psalm, the Holy Spirit describes the future.
The writer of this psalm underwent the afflictions that are here for us to read and consider. Other people and we also undergo these things. Sometimes, only God can comfort us and give us the strength to keep on. It is in our weakness that His strength is “made perfect.” There are times of loneliness and desolation when being alone with God is our greatest comfort and consolation.
The psalmist felt like an unclean bird in the situation in which he was found. A pelican is not a wilderness bird but is usually seen with other pelicans in or near water. Owls' typical habitat is in trees and places of shade and safety, in which they blend in so closely with their surroundings that they are virtually unseen. A sparrow alone is a very unlikely sight, especially out in the open, like on top of a house. The whole picture in these first verses is an urgent appeal from one who needs help and support but can’t find it even from God.
When we think we are rejected because of the problems and heartaches that overwhelm us, we must call to mind, “Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the age.” The appeal for God to hear does not go unheard, even though it may not be answered immediately. In describing his distress, the psalm writer seems to think that perhaps God's wrath against him makes him an object of mockery by his enemies.
Then, perspective is regained as he begins to look beyond his trouble, and he contrasts the shortness of his own life with the eternal life of God. He is sure God hears his prayer. He is sure God will restore His people and will restore Zion. He is sure Christ will reign forever. He is sure Zion and God’s servants are loved by God as they love Him and Zion. He is sure the whole world will someday reverence the name of the Lord.
He wants God’s deliverance of His people to be written down and preserved for the continuing praise of God by His people. He knows the solution to his problems, and that of the nation, is the Lord’s appearing in glory. In his suffering and weakened condition, his assurance is in the Lord's preservation of His people, even after all the works of God’s hands have passed away.
The end of the psalm compares his loss with his hope in God. God’s first creation displayed His glory. The new creation looks to “new heavens and a new earth” in which the “former things shall not be remembered.” God, who is eternal, guarantees deliverance and permanence for His people. The psalmist wrote for the benefit of the “generation to come” so they would praise the Lord in times to come. Redemption will come in the future, even for Zion. The Holy Spirit unfolds that fact in Hebrews 1, in which he references the Lord Jesus Christ, whose throne is forever and ever. He laid the foundations of the world, and He will roll up the earth like a garment of clothes. Though everything else will change, the eternal, unchanging Creator will always be the same.