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.