Psalms of Life: Lament

Life in the Psalms • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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What do you do when a hallmark card just will not cut it? Sometimes life is brutal and lament psalms capture sorrow and grief in a way that we can learn from the discipline of offering this back to God.

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Psalm 57 NIV

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam. When he had fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me— God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. They spread a net for my feet— I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path— but they have fallen into it themselves. My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

Pray.

Introduction

Today, appropriately, we will be looking to a Psalm of Lament. On this all saints day we recognize those loved ones that have gone, those in our community and in our families. Even as we celebrate their eternal life as saints we also again must acknowledge death.

Today is especially important because I think we have lost the spiritual discipline of lament. Of voicing fears, doubts, failures, and suffering in healthy ways. The psalms were a large source of individual and corporate lament in Temple worship of the Bible and times after.

is about acknowledging God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials. It is one of my favorite psalms because it represents incredible issues and trials and challenging praise and worship from the psalmist. Many have seen this to be David as he runs for his life from Saul and is hiding in a cave even. His life is literally on the line.

Last week from we talked about the movement of faith that grows to allowing God’s presence to be primary even when enemies of difficulties abound. Today we talk about the honesty in the dark valley and what it means to lament.

Why is lament important?

Well I think we have become the worst Christian radio station.

Carl Trueman is therefore right: “A diet of unremittingly jolly choruses and hymns inevitably creates an unrealistic horizon of expectation which sees the normative Christian life as one long triumphalist street party—a theologically incorrect and a pastorally disastrous scenario in a world of broken individuals.”1

1 Smith, R. S. (2017). Belting out the Blues as Believers: The Importance of Singing Lament. Themelios, 42(1), 90.

Bailey and Taylor?

What do you do when hallmark cards will not cut it?

Lament: Expression of Grief or Sorrow

So this morning we are going to look at and see what is important from this practice of lament. I am going to offer a few things that I see in this prayer and what is needed for us to recapture.

Lament inherently carries with it a hope. When a Christian pours out pain and difficulty and enters into a season of honest suffering…hope is not far away…or it cannot be far away.

Look at the psalm:

Psalm 57:2–4 NIV

I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me— God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.

Psalm 57

Today I want to declare, give permission even, that it is ok to not be ok. Dont put that mask on right now. The, “I’m ok” mask.

John Lynch in the Cure, “No one told me that when I wear a mask, only my mask receives love.”

By excluding the cries of loneliness, dispossession, and desolation from its worship, the church has effectively silenced and excluded the voices of those who are themselves lonely, dispossessed, and desolate, both inside and outside the church. By so doing, it has implicitly endorsed the banal aspirations of consumerism, generated an insipid, trivial and unrealistically triumphalist Christianity, and confirmed its impeccable credentials as a club for the complacent.1

1 Smith, R. S. (2017). Belting out the Blues as Believers: The Importance of Singing Lament. Themelios, 42(1), 110–111.

But, can I declare to you today that we have a hope that can never be taken away. What we know in Jesus Christ is that God knew the world was jacked up. He knew that we were jacked up but also that things were not right. For so long we have minimized the cross to simply mean a ticket into heaven for believers. The cross of Christ is a judgement on all that is wrong. The cross of Christ is the suffering of cancer, of diseases, it is the pain of slavery and trafficking, it is the heartbreak of abandoned children, it is attack of death itself.

When we lament, God brings us closer to the cross of Christ and thereby closer to the empty tomb.

This does not make singing some kind of “silver bullet” for transforming pleading into praising. But it does highlight its God-given capacity of assisting us in the honest articulation of sorrow, the effective processing of pain and the awakening of genuine hope. For “the psalms of lament do not dismiss or deny or seek to avoid sorrow. On the contrary, they allow a grieving person to move more fully into the valley of the shadow; knowing on different levels, that no matter what, God is indeed present in the sorrow.” But more than that, they point beyond sorrow; for even though their primary “focus is on process rather than result it must be recognized that there is a patent expectation, on the part of the psalmist, of some kind of resolution.”1

1 Smith, R. S. (2017). Belting out the Blues as Believers: The Importance of Singing Lament. Themelios, 42(1), 104–105.

When we lament we are shining light on half truths, lies, and deception

Can I tell you a vulnerable honest example of this....a couple of years ago…Scott

When we lament we bring everything in us under the light. Remember the quote from Eugene Peterson that I shared a couple of weeks ago....

Untutored we tend to think that prayer is what good people do when they are doing their best. It is not….It is the means by which we get everything in our lives out in the open before God.

I continue to be “…convinced that only as we develop raw honesty and detailed thoroughness in our praying do we become whole, truly human in Jesus Christ, who also prayed the Psalms”

(Eugene Peterson, The Message, 911).

Psalm 57:4–6 NIV

I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. They spread a net for my feet— I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path— but they have fallen into it themselves.

Psalm 57:

I wonder if this is the psalmist half truths. Even acknowledging that there is a metaphorical pit before him, he sees that that is a demise of the enemies already.

John Calvin describes these feelings of half-truths, deception and lies as “distracting emotions.” Walter Brueggeman calls individuals under their power as being disoriented. I love his quote about lament psalms:

“We must not make these Psalms too “religious” or pious. Most of the lament Psalms are the voice of those who “are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more.” They are not religious in the sense that they are courteous or polite or deferential/ They are religious only in the sense that they are willing to speak this chaos to the very face of the Holy One. Thus the lament Psalm. for all its preoccupation with the hard issue at hand, invariably calls God by name and expects a response. At crucial point, the Psalm parts company with our newspaper evidence and most of our experience, for it is disorientation addressed to God. And in that address, something happens to the disorientation. “ - Walter Brueggmann

What are your half truths, lies, deception? That you are the failure? That you will not survive this. That everything that can go wrong will continue to go wrong? That God is not listening, God is not present. God has forgotten about you.

These things are like a disease that if left in the body will kill you. You need to cut them out.

When we lament that is what we are doing....speaking chaos to the face of the Holy one.

When we lament we are bringing to God our honesty framed with hope

Lament inherently carries with it a hope. When a Christian pours out pain and difficulty and enters into a season of honest suffering…hope is not far away…or it cannot be far away.

Look at the psalm:

Psalm 57:2–4 NIV

Today I want to declare, give permission even, that it is ok to not be ok. Dont put that mask on right now. The, “I’m ok” mask.

John Lynch in the Cure, “No one told me that when I wear a mask, only my mask receives love.”

This will always be a place that you should take your mask off....Church for too long, as Smith writes,

1 Smith, R. S. (2017). Belting out the Blues as Believers: The Importance of Singing Lament. Themelios, 42(1), 110–111.

But, can I also declare to you today that we have a hope that can never be taken away. What we know in Jesus Christ is that God knew the world was jacked up. He knew that we were jacked up but also that things were not right. For so long we have minimized the cross to simply mean a ticket into heaven for believers. The cross of Christ is a judgement on all that is wrong. The cross of Christ is the suffering of cancer, of diseases, it is the pain of slavery and trafficking, it is the heartbreak of abandoned children, it is attack of death itself.

The cross of Jesus Christ is our hope and our reminder that God is present

The cross of Jesus is God giving God’s-self for the brokenness of the world.

This leads me to the next point,

When we lament we are in good company

When we lament, God brings us closer to the cross of Christ and thereby closer to the empty tomb.

An Scholar journal featuring an essay about bring lament back in the church writes:

Smith says lament is not a silver bullet for turning bad into good...

But it does highlight its God-given capacity of assisting us in the honest articulation of sorrow, the effective processing of pain and the awakening of genuine hope. For “the psalms of lament do not dismiss or deny or seek to avoid sorrow. On the contrary, they allow a grieving person to move more fully into the valley of the shadow; knowing on different levels, that no matter what, God is indeed present in the sorrow.” But more than that, they point beyond sorrow; for even though their primary “focus is on process rather than result it must be recognized that there is a patent expectation, on the part of the psalmist, of some kind of resolution.”1

1 Smith, R. S. (2017). Belting out the Blues as Believers: The Importance of Singing Lament. Themelios, 42(1), 104–105.

The psalmist knows God’s presence right at the beginning....

Psalm 57:1 NIV

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.

Psalm 57:

For those who suffer (and are aware and acknowledge it) there is a potential of intimacy with the crucified Christ that is beautiful and mysterious, and on the otherside, resurrection. Paul understood this

Philippians 3:10–11 NIV

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

For those mourning the loss of a loved one on this all saints day we celebrate the resurrection of the dead. For those that are here today, walking through trials and hardships I want you to know Jesus presence with you and I want you to know resurrection.

And finally....

When we lament we open the door for worship

All of these build. Because we have brought into the open lies and deception, because our lament is framed in hope, because we are joined with the God who is present in the suffering....we open the door for worship.

The Psalmist turns to worship...

Psalm 57:7–11 NIV

My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

First, I know it does not always get here. There are psalms like and 86 that are unresolved. I know that worship in the hardest moments is difficult. That is why lament is so important because we can repeat steps 1-2 until we get there.

Worship is possible because in our lament God is faithful. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Worship is possible because the half-truths, lies and deception are cast aside…set straight. In the company of the cross leads to the restoration of the empty tomb…Worship is possible because in lament you are face to face with God.

Closing

My friends that I mentioned at the beginning are having a service for their daughter tomorrow. Lucy Grace. I was speaking with mom this morning helping with some of the service details. Just trying to find the words and encourage her…trying to remind that God is present. My friend agreed and shared with me an amazing story from the hospital she said,

God’s been weaving this together for us the entire time. Where we ended up delivering was God’s divine intervention in Lubbock and I’ll say that the rest of my life....

and you want to hear something even more crazy she asked...

Sometimes there are doctors on call at this hospital but it is a teaching hospital so there was a resident there who delivered Lucy. She came in to give medicine initially and stayed the whole time. Her name is Dr. Liz Gentry. The exact same name of the counselor that saved their marriage the year before. Same spelling.

It was just the Lord. The entire time.

Church, Whatever you are going through, whatever you might face down the road, it may not be the outcome you desire. This world is hard and unfair. But we will always know hope that can never be taken away. God is there in the mess, take refuge in the shadow of His wings.

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