The photo above is from my now annual tradition of hiking the Bluebell Trail at Bull Run Regional Park. Peak is always pretty close to two weeks after cherry blossom peak, and today was three weeks after, but the blooms were still holding on, and it was a glorious day for a walk through the Spring forest, with songs from our Good Friday Cantata going through my head about God’s love.

I wanted to do one more Laments for Lent post for Good Friday, to finish out the series. I also would like to do a post on Easter about the Psalm of Trust Jesus quoted on the cross, so watch for that.

I mentioned when I started this series that I’m thinking of writing a book called Laments for Lent as a follow-up to my book Praying with the Psalmists – the one I’m still trying to find a publisher for. The Laments book will be shorter, focusing on the Laments and Psalms of Confession with 40 devotionals. Doing the blog series convinced me I could come up with enough material, and gives you a preview of the focus – praying our own laments.

In the previous posts, we’ve been looking at the parts of a Lament. I thought for Good Friday, let’s look at one Lament in particular – Psalm 22 – the one Jesus quoted from the cross. This Psalm will show what I mean by psalmists “loosely” following the form:

A – Address to God
C – Complaint
C – Confession of Trust
E – Entreaty
S – Sureness of Help
S – Subsequent Praise

Some friends who were early readers of Praying with the Psalmists took issue with me covering Psalm 22 in the Laments chapter instead of the Messianic Psalms chapter. I do maintain that a Psalm can be both, but since I was putting each Psalm into only one category, I feel that this Psalm is primarily a Lament – which ended up having Messianic implications. But from the perspective of the writer, David in this case, it was written as a Lament and has all the elements of a Lament. And didn’t David have plenty of times in his life on the run from Saul when he could have prayed this?

So let’s look at the parts of a Lament as they appear in Psalm 22.

The beginning Address to God is one of the many Laments that starts with an anguished question:

Psalm 22:1–

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?

As is common, the questioning Address bleeds right into the Complaint:

Psalm 22:2–

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.

Then we have kind of a short preview of the Confession of Trust:

Psalm 22:3-5–

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Then cycling back to the Complaint:

Psalm 22:6-8–

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
“let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”

Then time for a further Confession of Trust, this one more personal:

Psalm 22:9-10–

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb, you have been my God.

And a short preview of the Entreaty:

Psalm 22:11–

Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

But the psalmist isn’t done with the Complaint:

Psalm 22:12-18–

Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over mr.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.

Here’s the fuller Entreaty, the request in the prayer. (Notice how, like usual, it’s much shorter than the Complaint. God has been told the details of the problem; we trust God to know the details of what to do.)

Psalm 22:19-21–

But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

Okay, from here on out, we’ve got the Sureness of Help and the Subsequent Praise sections all tangled up together. But I’ll point out which verses I’d put with each element. This is the part where the Messianic import really takes off, looking far beyond David’s life to what will happen when the Messiah comes and makes everything right.

This is especially good to think about on Good Friday – knowing that Jesus’ horrible suffering on the cross had an outcome for which we can praise God.

And it’s good to think about today – Believing and trusting that one day Christ will put an end to oppression and make everything right.

Subsequent Praise:
Psalm 22:22-23–

I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

Sureness of Help: (I love the past tense that often shows up in this element before the prayer is finished.)

Psalm 22:24–

For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

And I’m going to call the rest Subsequent Praise, though it’s completely shot through with confidence that God will act.

Psalm 22:25-31–

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the LORD will praise him–
may your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

[See how this goes way beyond David?]

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him –
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!

Amen!

I like this meditation for Good Friday. And tonight I get to declare God’s praises and sing about God’s unfailing love before “the great congregation.”

Psalm 61:8 —

Then I will ever sing in praise of your name
and fulfill my vows day after day.

It’s Palm Sunday! This week, we’ll look at the sixth part of a Lament in Psalms, Subsequent Praise. The prof of my Psalms class called this “Vow to Praise.” The lovely thing about this part is that the psalmists visualize how happy they’ll be after God answers and talk about how they will praise God.

Again, my acrostic for the parts of a Lament is:

A – Address to God
C – Complaint
C – Confession of Trust
E – Entreaty
S – Sureness of Help
S – Subsequent Praise

This final part almost sounds like bargaining with God – because they do make vows that they’ll sacrifice thank offerings when God answers their prayer. But I like to take the perspective that they are so sure of God’s help, they’re already visualizing how they will praise God when God comes through.

And that seems perfect for Palm Sunday. Because “Hosanna” means “Save us.” They hailed Jesus as the one who came in the name of the Lord to save. And we cry the same words in faith that it will happen – even though we haven’t seen it yet.

Yes, the crowd in Jesus’ day probably thought he was about to overthrow the Romans. But we repeat their cries, knowing and believing that Jesus saves and Jesus is the King – even though we haven’t seen it on earth yet.

The “Subsequent Praise” section is about having so much confidence in God that we praise God even before we see the answer. And the answer is so sure – maybe not the specifics, maybe not the timing – that we can already visualize how we will rejoice when the answer comes, and we can already thank God for hearing our prayer.

This section doesn’t appear in every single Lament in Psalms, and it’s often mixed together with the “Sureness of Help” section, not always the last part, but let me list some examples that fit.

Psalm 5:11–

But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Psalm 13:6–

I will sing the LORD’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

Psalm 22:25–

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.

I love these ones that are so sure God has heard, they start up the praise as soon as the request has been made with past tense.

Psalm 28:6-7–

Praise be to the LORD,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.

Psalm 43:4–

Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

From a Psalm of Confession, Psalm 51:13–

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.

Psalm 56:12–

I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.

Psalm 59:16–

But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.

I’m going to stop there for tonight, but there are plenty more examples. When you read Psalms, notice how often the Laments end with praise or a promise to praise. I think they live out what Paul said later in Philippians 4:6–

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

The “with thanksgiving” part is built right into the form of the Lament.

And now, as usual, I’m going to pray an example lament – hoping you will try it, too. (And feel free to paste a lament into the comments!) My topic – my heart is just still so heavy that our country has sent people to death camps. And, well, I’ll put it, again, in the lament.

A Lament for Human Rights

Lord God hear my prayer,
listen to my cry.
I’m only one person,
but there are many more who feel this way,
and you’ve promised that when two or three gather in your name,
you are in the midst of them.
You’ve said that if we ask for bread,
you won’t give a stone.

Father, my heart is still heavy
that my own country has sent people to a death camp,
without hearings,
without warrants,
without evidence presented,
without any kind of sentence.
And my own country is revoking visas and green cards
again without hearings,
and apparently based on social media –
in a country where we used to have free speech.
And my own country is not allowing transgender people
to get passports under their correct name
or receive medical care
or serve in the military
or tell their own story.

Lord, this weekend I read not one but two children’s books
set during the Holocaust.
In both books, people didn’t leave Germany on time
and ended up dying.
Is this that time for transgender people?
For immigrants?
For Hispanics?
Is my own country replaying World War Two –
this time with the United States playing the villain?

Father, I do not understand,
I don’t begin to comprehend,
why you let World War Two happen,
where you were during the Holocaust.
But I do believe that you were present
with each one who suffered.
And I would like to think that humankind
learned a thing or two.
And I do trust that you will be with us
even if the worst happens,
that you will give us strength and guidance
to rise to the occasion,
to help the oppressed and stand against injustice.

But God, please act first!
Please let the US Constitution hold!
Let would-be oppressors be thwarted,
let propaganda be shown for what it is.
This time, let them fail to find informants
to send neighbors away to death camps.
Help humankind to do better this time
and stand for what’s right.
Help me to know what I can do,
how I can help.
May staying in America not be a tragic mistake
for transgender folks
or for immigrants
or visa holders.
And please set the prisoners free.

I always believe that justice wins in the end.
May we see it happen sooner this time.
May the people of America stop
any new Holocaust,
any new world war,
and may we again be the land of the free.
May the Bill of Rights apply
to everyone within our shores.
For you are a God of justice,
a God who cares for the fatherless and oppressed.

We look forward to praising your name
at disaster averted,
and having a joyous dance with our transgender friends
celebrating their beautiful lives.

Psalm 4:8–

In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, LORD,
make me dwell in safety.

It’s the fifth Sunday of Lent, and we’ll be looking at the fifth part of a Lament – Sureness of Help.

The form of a Lament is:

A – Address to God
C – Complaint
C – Confession of Trust
E – Entreaty
S – Sureness of Help
S – Subsequent Praise

I should clarify – I got the parts of a Lament from a Psalms class I took at Biola University in the 1980s, and I made up the acronym to remember the parts. The Laments in Psalms only follow this form loosely, but using this form is a great tool for writing your own laments.

And the last two parts are the loosest. Sometimes one or both of them doesn’t appear, and this isn’t necessarily the order. [In my Psalms class notes, I see that my prof called them “Words of Assurance” and “Vow to Praise.” I gave them S names.] Bottom line, at the end of a Lament, the psalmists generally give themselves a pep talk, reminding themselves that they do believe that God hears and answers.

Don’t believe me? Go through the book of Psalms and look at the ending verses of the individual Psalms. No matter how despairing the psalmist sounds at the beginning, the vast majority end on a hopeful note.

I know that typing out some examples will lift my spirit:

Psalm 3:8–

From the LORD comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.

Psalm 5:12–

Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

From a Psalm of Confession:
Psalm 6:9–

The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.

Oo, I like this one for today:
Psalm 10:17-18–

You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.

Psalm 13:5–

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

Here’s another from a Psalm of Confession:
Psalm 32:6-7–

Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.

You can tell I haven’t gotten very far into the Laments, but I’m going to stop there for tonight.

The message of this part of a Lament: We can pray our troubles to God, and we know God hears.

As with the entreaty, the words of assurance in this part are a little general. God sees. God listens. God encourages. God protects. God blesses.

This isn’t a vending machine God, doing magic tricks if we say the right words, but we do believe that God hears and sees and has compassion on us. And after asking for God’s help is a good time to remember that we trust God to be with us.

And – let me write an example lament again. I’m writing these on the spot, hoping that my lack of eloquence will make you think, “I can do that!” Tonight the Sureness of Help section is good, because I was encouraged by the Hands Off protest I attended yesterday – and the many, many honks of support we got from passing cars, besides the many who came out to protest.

Though there are so many things to pray about, my heart is still heaviest about people abducted and sent to prison camps without any warrant or hearing. But I’ve been praying about that the last couple weeks.  This morning, I also heard a story about the atrocious way federal employees at HHS learned they were being put on administrative leave – lining up to enter the building and discovering whether their card worked or not. So I’m going to pray about that tonight, with all the other wrongs in the back of my mind as well.

A Lament for People Being Treated as Objects–

Lord, hear our prayer,
listen to our cry for help.

People are being treated as objects,
with years of public service discounted as nothing.
No rationale is given
and no recourse made available.
People’s lives and livelihoods are being snatched from them
with no rhyme or reason
or regard for the valuable work they do.
Proper procedures – designed to protect people
– are not being followed.
There’s no reason given for the public to believe
that there is any fraud, waste, or abuse
except on the part of the group doing the firing.

Lord, hear the cry
of those unjustly fired;
listen to the confusion and fear
of those who don’t know where to turn.
And help your people to also see
and speak up against injustice.

You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.

And thank you that people are beginning to see
the injustices being carried out
and people are beginning to speak out
and raise their voices.

When the oligarchy falls down –
as all governments ultimately do –
we will thank you, Lord,
and celebrate in the streets
and may we embrace anew
justice for the oppressed.
May we once again take in the tired and poor
and be a land of freedom and opportunity.

Okay, I don’t feel like it’s eloquent – but again, I hope you will give this form a try! I’d love to see your own examples in the comments!

Psalm 10:12-15–

Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
“He won’t call me to account”?
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would not otherwise be found out.

For this fourth Sunday of Lent, I’m looking at the fourth part of a Lament – the Entreaty, where the psalmist asks God to help.

As a review, here is the form most Laments in Psalms loosely follow:

A – Address to God
C – Complaint
C – Confession of Trust
E – Entreaty
S – Sureness of Help
S – Subsequent Praise

Something that has long struck me about the Entreaties I find in Psalms is that they are pretty general. While the psalmists get very specific in the complaint, describing their troubles, in the Entreaty, they ask God to act without really telling God what to do. (Though you can argue with me about “Break the arm of wicked men.” – I’m typing that rather enthusiastically, with a broken finger.)

I was told growing up to pray specific requests, so you know when God answers them. But isn’t that treating God a bit like a vending machine? Why not pray for God to deal with the situation – and trust God to figure out how to do that?

I mean, I’ve been praying, “Call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out,” but I would never have dreamed of asking God to have someone add a journalist to their text chain about bombing civilians! There’s a lot more room for God to work!

Some more examples:

Psalm 6:4–

Turn, LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.

Psalm 17:7-9–

Show the wonder of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
from my mortal enemies who surround me.

Psalm 22:19–

But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

Here’s one to pray against people doing evil things, like depriving the vulnerable of their civil rights:
Psalm 28:4–

Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back on them what they deserve.

Psalm 35:22-25–

LORD, you have seen this; do not be silent.
Do not be far from me, LORD.
Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.
Vindicate me in your righteousness, LORD my God;
do not let them gloat over me.
Do not let them think, “Aha! Just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”

Some are very poetic and inspiring. I love this one:
Psalm 43:3–

Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

This Psalm of Confession has a beautiful one:
Psalm 51:7-12–

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

And I’m going to stop there for tonight. The Entreaty is the easiest part to find in the Laments – the part where the psalmist asks God to do something. Watch for this as you read Psalms.

And now, as I do each week, I’m going to pray a sample lament, using the six parts as prompts. My hope is that you will try this at home. (And I’d love to have some pasted into the comments!)

Still on my heart very much are people being abducted off the street without a warrant, their Constitutional rights stripped from them. (And there’s nothing in our Constitution that says the Bill of Rights is only for citizens.) So tonight’s lament is for them.

Lord God, hear our prayer,
listen to our cry.
We come to before you tonight
about vulnerable people
being abducted off the street
about people being seized by men in hoodies and masks
without a warrant,
without a hearing,
without a phone call,
without notice to family,
without any kind of due process,
without any regard for human rights.
We also pray about tourists put into detention
if someone doesn’t like what they find on their phone.
They are imprisoned,
deprived of medicine,
deprived of sleep,
treated as less than human,
deprived of any rights.
Lord, you see the sparrow fall.
You see when vulnerable people are wronged.
Lord, send forth your light and your faithful care;
let them know that you are near.
Don’t let the secret police continue to terrorize;
call them to account, Lord God!
Father, we know that evil doesn’t win in the end.
Help us to learn from this
and root out the injustice built into our system.
We know that you are a God of justice;
may we hear the cries of joy when prisoners are released.
Lord, we’ll never again take for granted
that America is a refuge for the tired and poor and the huddled masses learning to be free.
May we celebrate every immigrant we meet
and look forward to again being a place of refuge.

Okay, that’s my offering for tonight. I’m having a harder time with the “Subsequent Praise” section when it’s harder for me to imagine the resolution happening soon. But that’s part of the power of the Lament – imagining our joy after God works. And we’ll talk about that in a couple weeks. For now, I’ll keep trying to imagine an America that people want to immigrate to again.

Psalm 3:3-6–

But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
I call out to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.

For the third Sunday of Lent in my Laments for Lent series, we’re looking at the third part of the Lament, the Confession of Trust.

Here again is the acronym I made for the parts of a Lament in Psalms:

A – Address to God
C – Complaint
C – Confession of Trust
E – Entreaty
S – Sureness of Help
S – Subsequent Praise

It doesn’t surprise anyone that Laments contain a Complaint. But right after the Complaint, or sometimes in the middle of the Complaint, it’s as if the psalmists step back, take a deep breath, and remind themselves they really do trust God, and there’s a reason they’re coming to God in prayer.

These verses are beautiful expressions of trust – coming in the midst of deep trouble.

Here are a few more examples:

Psalm 143:5-6–

I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
I spread out my hands to you;
I thirst for you like a parched land.

Psalm 74 is a group Lament from the nation of Israel. First it talks about how the nation has been ravaged and prophets are silent, and then we get this passage:

Psalm 74:12-17–

But God is my King from long ago
he brings salvation on the earth.
It was you who split open the sea by your power;
you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
It was you who opened up springs and streams;
you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
The day is yours, and yours also the night;
you established the sun and moon.
It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter.

Psalm 42 and 43 make a Lament together, and the Confession of Trust is a repeated refrain:

Psalm 42:5 & 11 and 43:5—

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise him,
My Savior and my God.

Another comforting one:
Psalm 56:3-4—

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise –
In God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?

And I’ll finish with a simple one:
Psalm 54:4—

Surely God is my help;
The Lord is the one who sustains me.

Again, not every Lament in Psalms has every part, sometimes the parts merge together, and sometimes they’re in a different order or parts are split up (the most common way having some more of the Complaint after a Confession of Trust). But you will find a theme that even in a hard time, after pouring out their hearts about their troubles, psalmists will remind themselves of God’s faithfulness and that they really do trust God – when they stop to think about it.

And that’s what I’d like to get out of the Laments this week. Don’t be afraid to pour out your heart to God in Complaint – but also take a minute and remember God’s faithfulness. Do you trust God? Take a moment to express that. It will calm your heart and help you be ready for the Entreaty – asking God to act.

As always, my hope is that you’ll try this form in your own prayers, so I’ll offer an example.

This week, I’m still thinking about politics and the horror that my own government is grabbing people without a trial or a warrant or any kind of hearing and sending them to El Salvador to be imprisoned and tortured, without a call to a lawyer or any notification of their loved ones. I’m going to pray for those people, made in God’s image, that this evil would stop.

Lord, hear our prayer,
and listen to our cry.

Humans, made in your image,
with families and loved ones
maybe some criminals, but maybe not,
maybe some gang members, but maybe not,
maybe people seeking a safer home,
maybe people looking for a better life,
maybe people here legally,
maybe people whose legal status was revoked–
but we don’t know any of it,
because they’ve been abducted in secret
with no warrant,
with no hearing,
with no trial,
with no due process of any kind,
with no regard for their human rights.

And they’re powerless to stop it;
and we feel powerless to stop it, too.
And a judge tried to stop it –
but is he powerless, too?

Father, if you see a sparrow fall
and know the number of hairs on each of our heads,
then you know the name of each one imprisoned
and you know every heart’s anguish and hear their cries.

O Lord, please act!
Please work in the hearts of your children
not to harden their hearts
because a politician told them to.
Show us how to speak;
show us how to act
to be able to stand against injustice
and bring the powerful to account.

Lord, I look forward to seeing your hand at work,
to seeing justice win victories large and small.
(May that justice come sooner rather than later.)

And may I remember to praise you after each victory, big or small,
and look forward to the day when the leaves of the tree of life
will bring healing to all the nations.
Even so, bring that healing, Lord.