I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
Psalm 102:6–7 NKJV
The circumstances of the psalmist’s prayer could have been anything—chronic pain, an enemy’s affliction—but the psalmist lays it all out before the Lord, describing how his “bones burn like glowing embers” and he is “reduced to skin and bones” (Psalm 102:3, 5 NIV). In his suffering, he felt alone, like a solitary bird on the roof.
Though the psalmist felt alone—as maybe you sometimes do—it doesn’t mean he was overlooked. For God sees every sparrow, and His children are worth much more than the birds of the air (see Matthew 10:29–31). You are seen; your pain does not go unnoticed.
As tempting as it is to put on a brave front and swallow your pain, don’t withhold your lament from the Lord. Lamenting is different from complaining—it’s not blaming God but crying out for His mercy. Follow the psalmists’ example: There are more psalms of lament than any other type. Lamenting is part of abiding—for it is waiting patiently through your tears, waiting in expectant hope for the help of the One who hears, the One who will answer.
I sing of Your truth, Father, trusting You: Your eye is on the sparrow, and I know You are watching me.
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Today’s reading was adapted from Daily Wisdom for Women: 2018 Devotional Collection with permission from Barbour Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reading was written by Karin Dahl Silver.