I’ve been neglecting this blog since I wrote the weekly posts in my Laments for Lent series. Naturally, I took a break after finishing that series, and then I had a vacation in June to Oregon (see the Columbia Gorge picture above), and a trip to ALA Annual Conference in Philadelphia after that, and then a mini-retreat to Canaan Valley State Park in West Virginia – and I need to get in the swing of writing again.
I recently read another book on praying laments, which I will review before long. But it got me thinking about ways my own book, Praying with the Psalmists (as yet unpublished) is different. Yes, I talk about Laments, but I go through the entire book of Psalms and divide them up into ten types – and I talk about how we can use each type as an example in our prayers.
And the most difficult type, honestly, to explain why we should use it in prayer was Messianic Psalms.
Now, many Psalms have elements that ended up being fulfilled in Jesus – and I do think some of the Laments would have surprised the original psalmists. But the Psalms I named as specifically Messianic were talking about the ruler, the Anointed One, at the time – Psalms 2, 45, 72, 110, and 132. I doubt that the psalmists who originally prayed these Psalms realized they were being prophetic, and I certainly am not suggesting that we must prophesy when we pray. But think about it: We know how the story ends!
So in my book, I call them Happy Ending Psalms. I believe that the arc of the universe does tend toward justice and I believe that Christ will return and make things right.
I found four key concepts that show up in Messianic Psalms: God’s Rule, Coming Justice, Certain Victory, and Eternal Scope.
All that is to say that in posting about Psalms tonight, I’m going to attempt a category I’ve been neglecting – a Messianic psalm or better called a Happy Ending psalm or Justice psalm:
Justice Psalm for Troubled Times
Lord, why do the nations rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
Why are the rulers of our land
blaming immigrants for every woe?
Why are they abducting people
who came here seeking refuge
and locking up people
who answered the call on the Statue of Liberty
and came here for a better life?
And Father, I don’t know what I can do about it.
I feel helpless when I hear of detention,
horrible conditions, and harsh treatment.
Let the evil not go unnoticed, Lord!
Help us to not look away.
You’ve said that your people
are to care for the stranger in the land.
Watch over the immigrants,
the homeless,
the hurting.
Watch over everyone wrongly imprisoned –
let them know they are seen.
And I don’t know how,
I don’t know when.
But I pray that justice will be done,
that those responsible for these deep wrongs
will be called to account.
Let America once again –
or maybe for the first time –
truly become the land of the free
and the home of the brave,
where we take in the tired, the poor,
and the huddled masses yearning to be free,
where we defend the fatherless and the oppressed
and never turn a deaf ear
to the cry of the poor.
I know that the day will come
when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
But, Lord, hear now the cry of the poor
and the immigrant.
May your justice come swiftly
and your unfailing love shine.
— And I still feel at a loss. But it helps my spirit to pray.