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!