the Cry of the Afflicted
This is the fifth of the Penitential Psalms. Some hold that it is one of the later psalms, asking for deliverance from captivity; others, emphasizing certain Davidic characteristics, ascribe it to the hand of the royal psalmist. Its actual authorship, however, is of comparatively small consequence; the main thing is to notice what adequate expression it gives to the sorrow of an almost broken heart.
The psalmist bases his cry for a speedy answer on the swiftness with which his days are passing away, like smoke escaping, from a chimney. His bones are calcined; his heart withers like Jonah's gourd; he is worn to a skeleton by his long and passionate lamentations. He finds his likeness in solitude-loving creatures, such as the pelican and the owl. Still another element in his suffering is the mockery of his foes. He cannot get away from it; it haunts him. Ashes, the token of his mourning, are his food, and tears fill his cup. But the bitterest element of all is the consciousness of God's displeasure. It seems as if God's hand is against him, and in the accumulated weight of grief, he deems that the day of his life must expire. However, in the concluding portion of the psalm his hope is renewed.