Psalms of Lament: Prayer for Guidance

Let us pray…Gracious and always loving God, as we enter this season of Lent, we come before you this day/night asking that you would join our hearts with yours, help us to remember that your love for us knows no boundaries, and that this season, a season that has lasted for over a year now, will come to an end and that when we celebrate the resurrection of your Son, our lives will be much different from what we have always known, except that you have blessed us. Now in this time of reflection, help us to open our hearts, our minds, and our spirits to you still-speaking, ever loving voice, Amen.

Introduction to the Series...

I want to take just a few moments to introduce us to a series of sermons that will take us through the Lenten Season this year. As we continue to journey in our wilderness/desert wanderings that started last year, we are all, I am sure, bone weary of the Virus and all that has come because of it. I am also sure that we are ready to be out of the desert of grief, despair, and separation from one another. What I thought would be a good way for us to do that would be to explore some Psalms of Lament this year as we approach the cross of grace. My hope in doing this series is that we will see that we are not alone, that many others throughout our Christian history have journeyed as well through their own deserts and wilderness. I pray that as we come to the end of Lent this year, we find hope in the words the Psalmists left for us because to be honest, even though the Psalms we will be studying are Psalms of grief, despair, and hopelessness, each and every one of them also expresses the gratitude and joy of having God as a guide, a parent, a loving friend, to bring them out of those pits that they find themselves within. I also pray that we can see that even though this time has been hard, there are brighter days ahead…and a promise of a world without tears, without pain, and without suffering to look toward.

Psalm 25

So, this afternoon/evening we are going to start our journey of discovery looking at a prolific Psalm of Lament. As I say that, I am wondering how many of us might be wondering what a Psalm of Lament really is…so here is a quick definition...a song, piece of music, or poem expressing sorrow or an expression of regret or disappointment; a complaint.

The writers of the Psalms often wrote poems to God about their situations. Which is what makes studying them so hard. For the most part, we do not know specifically the writers were going through in their lives as they wrote these songs, and honestly, that is typically what the Psalms became…songs that were sung during worship. For us in the 21st Century, it makes it really hard because we like stories that have a beginning, climax, and an ending or resolution to a problem. The Psalms do not have this, they are poems without any of these items, for the most part.

Today/tonight I read the words of Psalm 25. This is a Psalm that has been attributed to King David, as many others have been. We do not specifically know with any amount of certainty that he did actually write these words, but for our sakes, let’s make the presumption that he did. What we know from King David’s life is that he suffered many things and did some pretty amazing things too. What we can tell from the words of this Psalm is that he is going through a tough situation in his life and he is crying out to God for protection, deliverance, and guidance.

Let’s take a look at a few piece and talk through how this Psalm can help us in our own lives today…the first piece I want us to look at, is actually those first few lines...

Psalm 25:1–2 NLT

O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.

So, what we can tell from this is that David has done something that he feels guilty for in his life. This could relate to his affair with Bathsheba or maybe what he did to Bathsheba’s husband. Or it might be completely unrelated to anything we have in the Bible but another time in his life when he has done something for which he is asking forgiveness. In today’s world, I am sure many of us have things that we have done or do that make us feel like we need to be forgiven…

It is these feelings that David is expressing here but he is also expressing his desire to turn his whole being over to God’s will. David was the kind of faithful person that many of us strive to be in our lives. Despite all the things that happened in his life, he never stopped turning to God in prayer and looking to God for what he needed. This is what I am hearing here…David desires for his life to be an example. Sure, he talks about not being put to shame and asking for deliverance from his enemies, but what if his enemies were not those outside of his realm but rather the enemies he faced inside of himself…his guilt, his thoughts of anger or frustration or any other thoughts that took his mind away from focusing on what God desired for him to do? For me, this is about what we face inside our own hearts and minds, not necessarily the outward enemies we face…I think for us, it is harder to look in the mirror than to stand up to someone who is standing against us…think about that for a moment.

Psalm 25:4–7 NLT

Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord.

From there, David moves on to talking about how he desires for God to show him the right way to go and be in the world. This is kind of where I am seeing David looking in the mirror and saying, “I know that much of my troubles and what I have been through are because of what I have said and done or left unsaid or undone.” I think many of us can relate to this, right? I see David really delving into his heart here.

He specifically asks God for 4 things… he wants to be shown, guided, taught, and remembered. Look at how he lays this out in this Psalm…Show me YOUR ways, Guide me in YOUR path, Teach me YOUR ways, Remember YOUR mercy and Remember me. He is asking God to be his teacher, leader, and provider. It is almost as if he has decided that he needs to work on himself more than trying to fix others. There’s a very valuable lesson in there for all of us…the only people we can change (that being attitude, thoughts, feelings, etc.) is ourselves. Let me say that again, in these words, David is recognizing that the only person he can change is himself. He cannot make any of these changes for anyone else. But, he is also acknowledging that only God can help him to do these things that are necessary to be what God has instructed him to be.

Our Lenten Journey...

So, for us here today/tonight, this Psalm stands as a reminder to each of us that we cannot make changes for anyone but ourselves. That is a really hard lesson to learn. We want for everyone around us to be and act a certain way. We can try to force others to be a different way but that only leads to frustration and eventually broken relationships. We can try to guide others to make certain choices and decisions, and unless they are small children who do not make many decisions for themselves, we cannot force anyone to do our will. Only God can help others to do what is necessary or just or right. When it comes to trusting God, only the individual can make that decision for themselves. For me, Lent is a time of preparation, a time for me and only me, to look, like David, inside my heart to see where I need to buff, polish, and maybe even cut off those things that are driving me away from God each day.

Lent is a time for us to choose who we will be and whose we will be. Our identity will not be defined by what we claim to believe, but by the road we take. Most of the time, I think we hurry to the empty tomb and forget that the cross was first bare wood, formed into a cross, and then carried to Calvary. So often, we would rather bypass the cross for the empty tomb, but the wisdom of Lent proclaims that Easter Sunday will not make much sense unless we are able to stay the course to and through Golgotha first.1 As we journey through the Psalms this Lent, I pray that each of us takes time to read and study these words and then look inside for the cross that we must each bear before we can get to the promise of everlasting life in the empty tomb. Amen

1 Adapted from...Erickson, Brian. “Homiletical Perspective on Psalm 25:1–10.” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B. Ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Vol. 2. Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. 37. Print.