Crying Out to the Lord

Psalm 38

Why We Need the Laments

About the Psalms of Lament -

What is Lament - expressions of sorrow, regret, or grief - these are hymns and prayers dealing with issues that are central to the life of faith. The lament psalms express intense emotions, real human struggles, and the anguish of heart experienced by the people of Israel as they lived out their faith individually and corporately.

Christian Radio won’t be playing songs of lament

But when Lament make up over 1/3rd of the Psalms, we know that God has given us this theme to teach us how to come to him.

Laments are sung in between experience and promise.

The Laments are complaints, “Lord, didn’t you promise… so why am I experiencing this…”

(4) How long?

(6) I am weary…

(22) Why are you silent? Why are you absent? Why have you forsaken me?

“Lament is how you live between the poles of a hard life and trusting God’s sovereignty.” Mark Vroegop Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy

Laments require faith.

There are complaints that are made without faith - giving up in frustration, turning away from the Lord and his promised means…

We give God the silent treatment and wind up in a spiritual desert, unable, or even refusing to talk to God. This is a soul-killer.

Lament is rooted in faith, it is prayer loaded with theological truth and lived out experience.

Every lament is addressed to God, finds its hope in God, and longs for restoration of fellowship and the pleasure of God.

Crying Out to the Lord

Stating the Problem - Its me (1-2)

Rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.

We don’t know the situation, but we know that David has come under the discipline of God for his sin.

But notice what David doesn’t pray: He doesn’t ask that God would not discipline, but that he would not discipline in wrath and anger.

Discipline for sin and error is God’s means of correction, shaping and guiding his children into maturity and godliness

The prayer asks that God would not discipline in wrath and anger, but as a loving father would discipline his children.

If you have been on the receiving end you know the difference.

Your arrows have pierced, your hand is heavy

Arrows - David is pierced deeply in his conscience

God’s Hand is heavy -

The Hand of the Lord is often a sign of protection, but also brings judgment and discipline.

When David sinned and took a census of the people (2 Sam 24:14), he knew it would be better to fall into the hand of the Lord, rather than the hand of men, because the mercy of the Lord is great.”

My sin, God’s Indignation -

This is a prayer of contrition - David has come to see the weight of his sin, and the anger of the Lord -

The Spiritual and Social weight of sin (3-12)

Physically/Emotionally sick from sin

Wounds Stink and fester - graphic, but suggestive of the fact that this has been ongoing, a prolonged struggle with sin

I am bowed down, burning, crushed - the tumult of my heart - sin wrecks us.

Socially cut off in sin

My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, nearest kin stand far off; They seek my life, plot my ruin…

Sin is isolating, cuts us off from others. Sin makes us paranoid, but also gives opportunity for those who would accuse.

The Turning Point (13-14)

Though blind, deaf, and mute…

Cannot see a way out, the advice of those around me is lost on me, I cannot talk my way out of this.

2 Pe 1:9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

I will look to the Lord - This is the resolution of the Lament:

Great power in very little words - Yet, But, Still - a turning point in prayer and spiritual growth.

Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, “Nevertheless.”

Seeking Protection (15-20)

I am ready to fall… not if but when

When we walk with God, we will all stumble (Jam 3:2)

I repent - but those around me are ready to trip me, the world is no help in following after Christ

The world is not your cheerleader, you are a fish swimming upstream

2 Tim 3:12 “Those who seek to live a godly life will be persecuted”

Stating the Solution (21-22)

Make haste to help me…

Ultimately, this is the prayer of Psalm 38: In the midst of my struggles, come quick to save.

Maranatha, Come, O Lord… 1 Cor 16:22

My Lord, My Salvation

There is a personal connection that not even our own stumbling can sever. God is my Lord and he is my savior.

How A Christian Laments

Where Faith & Reality Meet = Lament

Between promise of the gospel and the lived experience

New Creation vs. Old Man

Growth in Righteousness vs. Struggle in Sin

I stand in the way of my on success, I am my biggest obstacle, my weakest link.

Romans 7 - wretched man that I am, who will save me..

We are right to lament -

Don’t give up - be persistent in prayer.

Godly grief leads to repentance, worldly grief leads to despair

Luke 18 - The parable of the persistent widow

We need to build a vocabulary of lament, teaching us to pursue the Lord even in the midst of our struggles.

Where Sin is Revealed & Grace Sought Out = Hope

Christians don’t complain just to complain - some who aren’t happy unless they have something to complain about

We are not guaranteed to find the answers. Laments don’t sugar coat things - “it will all work out…”

But Lament does lead us to utter powerful 4 letter words: Help and Hope

Who here likes to ask for help?

In our Lament, God brings us to the end of ourselves, levels us in our weaknesses, so that he can show his perfect strength - 2 Cor 12:9

That which would lead us to despair in the world, in Christ leads us to Hope.

When the trials and temptations, when the frustrations and delays, drive to lament and cry out to the Lord, there is great mercy - for we are being driven into the arms of our savior.

Where the Gospel Consoles the Lamenting = Praise

When we feel God’s hand upon us, pierced in conviction with the arrows of the Lord, remember:

Christ took the fullness of God’s wrath, He was pieced for our transgressions, He drank the cup dry, for you and for your salvation.

There is no wrath left for those who are in Christ.

Now when you face the disciplines of God it is only in love.

God is treating you as sons. Heb 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

In the midst of our grief over our sins, the struggle and setbacks in life, laments lead us to praise when we look to our savior Jesus Christ.