Advent 2023 (Hope in Lament)

Introduction

Read Psalm 80:3–5 (ESV)

3  Restore us, O God;

let your face shine, that we may be saved!

4  O LORD God of hosts,

how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

5  You have fed them with the bread of tears

and given them tears to drink in full measure.

How many of you know that we live in a culture that struggles to make space for negative feelings?

Think about it, there are few employers offer bereavement leave, and those who do only offer a few days and restrict it to certain family members.

I remember when my wife's grandpa passed away, the company that I worked for did NOT offer any leave for that because he was not my grandpa.

And it seems like we are pushed and encouraged to rush past emotions of anger, fear, sadness, and grief.

Perhaps that is the reason so many of us believe God to be too busy or unwilling to listen to our negative emotions.

Maybe because our society indicates that these emotions should be ignored or repressed or hurried though, we also begin to feel that we can’t be angry with God. Or maybe we worry about the repercussions if we express these feelings fully.

The portion of Psalm that we just read is a lament. Lament is defined as a passionate expression of grief and sorrow.

Lament is 70% of the Psalms but less than 50% (and I would be willing to bet a lot less) of modern worship music.

I mean can you imagine a modern worship song about lament? (lament song via AI)

The majority of modern praise-and-worship songs are not laments, a fact that tends to create a culture that wants to neglect these more “negative” feelings and experiences in the worship community.

Neglecting the reality of lament is problematic because it may cause us to project onto God the false reality that God does not care about our truthful emotions or experiences, or that we have to present ourselves in a certain way before God will accept us.

When we neglect lament, we create a community that struggles to embrace people where they are.

But, lament is normalized in the Psalms as part of living in a broken world.

So here we are, the first Sunday of Advent, ready to talk about hope! Our homes and world are filled with warm spices and twinkly lights. Our anticipation for the season is high—and then we open Psalm 80.

Psalm 80 is a lament that is filled with grief, with anger, with sadness and despair—and not only that, but those difficult feelings are directed at God!

You are probably asking yourself, why in the world is this our text on the first Sunday of advent?

Lament and hope, are more related than we sometimes like to admit. They are two sides of the same coin. We can’t appreciate one without acknowledging and understanding the other.

To lament is a passionate expression of grief and sorrow and it has to be honest as well. So naming reality is the start of lament.

Peter Scazzero says “There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality. In fact the true spiritual life is not an escape from reality but an absolute commitment to it.”

Naming reality is important for those experiencing loss, grief, or trauma.

For example, when doctors have to inform someone of a death, they have to use the word “die.” They cannot use euphemisms because if they aren’t clear, people may misinterpret their meaning.

Lets take a look at our text and see how the psalmist expresses his lament.

Body

Lets look at verse 3,

Restore us, O God;

let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Right off the bat we are confronted with honesty from the psalmist. He says “Restore us, O God...” This indicates that something has happened to the relationship.

That relationship has been broken by something. It’s not the same as it once was.

The psalmist is writing this lament on behalf of the nation of Isreal. They are going through it. If you want to know more of what was taking place read chapter 79 this afternoon. But the reality here is that something has happened to the extent that restoration is needed.

The term restore here means to turn back or return.

Get 2 people to help with the illustration.

The Legacy Standard Bible word this as “Restore us O God and cause your face to shine on us.” So what the psalmist is writing is “turn us around, shape us so that we may look to you and be saved.

Create a visual get someone to play “God” and to play the psalmist. Have the psalmist face away from God with a note pad and paper.

Something to note here is that God is there in the very midsts of this lament and all the psalmist is asking is to be turned back to God so that they (Isreal) can see Him and be saved.

God is not the one in need of restoration. Its the nation of Isreal that needs to be turned back to God.

Something I would invite you to do is as some of you are taking notes, ask the question:

“Where do I stand with God?”- Right off the bat, lets be honest. What does my day to day walk with God look like?

“Am I in need of restoration?”- Am I in the midst of a trail season? Do I need God to turn me back to Him? Where is my focus? When is the last time you said “God, where in the world are you?”

I know for some of us it could have been this morning on the way to church.

When we name our reality no matter how painful, we are able to process and cope with it in ways we can’t when it is ignored.

So where are you this morning? If you were to write your own psalm to God, how would it begin?

I know what I would write.

“Why?” “God, why?”

Lets look at the next few verses.

O Lord God of hosts,

how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

5  You have fed them with the bread of tears

and given them tears to drink in full measure.

6  You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,

and our enemies laugh among themselves.

* The psalmist lamented the seemingly fierce discipline God had brought on His people.

*How many of you can remember a time when you faced serious discipline? I remember a time, when I was a teenager, in the 8th grade, I went to a clothing store with some friends from school and they convinced me to steal a hat. They said it would be easy and that they did it all the time. So, me in all of my 8th grade wisdom agreed to do this with them, long story short I got caught. Not only was I banned from the store, but when I got home I was faced with a pretty big punishment from my parents. I got grounded for 3 months. My grounding included coming home from school, doing my homework and then setting on the edge of my bed until it was time to go to sleep.

* So the psalmist again, is lamenting this seemingly fierce discipline that God has brought onto His people.

He cried out to God, asking how long His anger would be directed against them.

Verse 5 says: “You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.”

This suggests that troubles were as much apart of their lives as eating and drinking.

And to add insult to injury one of the most painful aspects of this lament was that Israel’s enemies mocked them.

But again the refrain expressed the desire and the hope that God would restore His people.

And then in the middle of this lament there is a reflection of how God has been faithful and how God has provided for the nation of Isreal.

You brought a vine out of Egypt;

you drove out the nations and planted it.

9  You cleared the ground for it;

it took deep root and filled the land.

10  The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches.

11  It sent out its branches to the sea

and its shoots to the River.

What a picture we are presented with! The vine is in reference to the entire nation of Isreal.

You see, in the midsts of their trouble God is still the author of hope. What would happen if we turned around and faced the one who gives us hope? Even in the face of lament.

Oh yeah you did bring the vine out, cleared the ground, and our roots grow deep in hope.

The vine (Isreal) took root and filled the land. This once mighty and unified nation is falling apart and thats evident by whats taking place. Look at the next part.

12  Why then have you broken down its walls,

so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

13  The boar from the forest ravages it,

and all that move in the field feed on it.

What does this tell us? It tells us that difficulties and lament are all part of the human experience.

This is also a part of the faith experience.

Lament is not something to be avoided but embraced.

Lament is part of what it means to follow God.

We are reminded from John 18:36 ““My kingdom is not of this world,”

Hope reminds us that God’s kingdom doesn't operate the same way the world does. And I for one, am glad that scripture allows for open, honest, lament, even lament that is directed at God.

This lament is not the opposite if hope, its rooted in hope. They address God because they believe God will listen and respond. They are not afraid of God’s response. They long for it because they hope it will be a salvific and loving response.

Advent is a season of intermingled lament and hope.

Lament moves us into hope that is built on truth and the faithfulness of God.

Something I want you to notice about this lament is found in verses 3, 7, and 19.

It seems to be the same line repeated, “restore us O God..”

The first is restore us O God, the second is restore us O God of Hosts, and the third is restore us O LORD God of hosts.

Every time this is repeated the psalmist is appealing to a different aspect of who God is.

Turn us back to you O God, creator of all things.

Turn us back to you, O God of Hosts

Turn us back to you Yahweh

Whenever we ask God to restore us back to Him we see him a little bit better.

Conclusion

There is hope, even in lament. Lament helps us remember that God is big enough for the entire human experience—even the hard parts.

God is faithful, and if we will turn back to Him, even in the face of lament we will begin to see him better.

God is faithful and if He says the word, all our troubles can disappear. But even if he doesn't let us find hope in the lament.

EVEN IF VIDEO

Prayer

God today we chose hope, even when it doesn't make since, even when it seems like our word is falling apart, even when we do or don’t have the words to express what we are feeling, we choose hope but we cant do it on our own strength, which is why we say to you with outstretched arms,

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever, AMEN.