The Owl And The Pelican

I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

Psalm 102:6

My wife had a weakness for books—especially old, choice religious books which are now out of print. At one time Foyles’ in London had a large secondhand religious book department. One day during the 1954 London Crusade, she was browsing through the books in Foyles’ when a very agitated clerk popped our from behind the stacks and asked if she was Mrs. Graham. When she told him that she was, he began to tell her a story of confusion, despair, and frustration. His marriage was on the rocks, his home was breaking up, and business problems were mounting. He explained that he had explored every avenue for help and as a last resort planned to attend the services at Harringay arena that night. Ruth assured him that she would pray for him, and she did. That was in 1954.

In 1955 we returned to London. Again my wife went into Foyles’ secondhand book department. This time the same clerk appeared from behind the stacks, his face wreathed in smiles. After expressing how happy he was to see her again, he explained that he had gone to Harringay that night in 1954 as he had said he would, that he had found the Savior, and that the problems in his life had sorted themselves out.

Then he asked Ruth if she would be interested in knowing what verse it was that “spoke to him.” She was. Again he disappeared behind all the books and reappeared with a worn Bible in his hand. He turned to Psalm 102, which I had read the night that he had attended the Crusade. He pointed out verse 6, “I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.” This had so perfectly described to him his condition that he realized for the first time how completely God understood and cared. As a result he was soundly converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And subsequently so was his entire family.

My wife was in London during 1972 at the time of a Harringay reunion. As the ceremonies closed, a gentleman came up to speak to her, but he didn’t have to introduce himself. She recognized the clerk from Foyles’. He was radiantly happy, introduced his Christian family, and explained how they were all now in the Lord’s work—all because God spoke to him when he was “an owl of the desert”!

How graciously God speaks to us in our need . . . often through some obscure passage.

Our Father and our God, I praise You for leading me to the exact passages in Your Book that I need every day. I search for You among the pages, and I am never disappointed, for You are always there. I love Your Word, Lord. Help me to mold my life to fit within its precepts and promises through Your Son. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).