{"id":14177,"date":"2025-03-23T22:13:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T02:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14177"},"modified":"2025-08-12T22:57:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T02:57:37","slug":"laments-for-lent-confession-of-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14177","title":{"rendered":"Laments for Lent – Confession of Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Psalm 3:3-6–<\/p>\n

But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
\nmy glory, the One who lifts my head high.
\nI call out to the LORD,
\nand he answers me from his holy mountain.
\nI lie down and sleep;
\nI wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
\nI will not fear though tens of thousands
\nassail me on every side.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the third Sunday of Lent in my Laments for Lent<\/em> series, we’re looking at the third part of the Lament, the Confession of Trust.<\/p>\n

Here again is the acronym I made for the parts of a Lament in Psalms:<\/p>\n

A \u2013 Address to God
\nC \u2013 Complaint
\nC \u2013 Confession of Trust
\nE \u2013 Entreaty
\nS \u2013 Sureness of Help
\nS \u2013 Subsequent Praise<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

These verses are beautiful expressions of trust – coming in the midst of deep trouble.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more examples:<\/p>\n

Psalm 143:5-6–<\/p>\n

I remember the days of long ago;
\nI meditate on all your works
\nand consider what your hands have done.
\nI spread out my hands to you;
\nI thirst for you like a parched land.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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:<\/p>\n

Psalm 74:12-17–<\/p>\n

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

Psalm 42 and 43 make a Lament together, and the Confession of Trust is a repeated refrain:<\/p>\n

Psalm 42:5 & 11 and 43:5\u2014<\/p>\n

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
\nWhy so disturbed within me?
\nPut your hope in God,
\nFor I will yet praise him,
\nMy Savior and my God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another comforting one:
\nPsalm 56:3-4\u2014<\/p>\n

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
\nIn God, whose word I praise \u2013
\nIn God I trust and am not afraid.
\nWhat can mere mortals do to me?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I\u2019ll finish with a simple one:
\nPsalm 54:4\u2014<\/p>\n

Surely God is my help;
\nThe Lord is the one who sustains me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again, not every Lament in Psalms has every part, sometimes the parts merge together, and sometimes they\u2019re 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\u2019s faithfulness and that they really do trust God \u2013 when they stop to think about it.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

As always, my hope is that you’ll try this form in your own prayers, so I’ll offer an example.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Lord, hear our prayer,
\nand listen to our cry.<\/p>\n

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

And they’re powerless to stop it;
\nand we feel powerless to stop it, too.
\nAnd a judge tried to stop it –
\nbut is he powerless, too?<\/p>\n

Father, if you see a sparrow fall
\nand know the number of hairs on each of our heads,
\nthen you know the name of each one imprisoned
\nand you know every heart’s anguish and hear their cries.<\/p>\n

O Lord, please act!
\nPlease work in the hearts of your children
\nnot to harden their hearts
\nbecause a politician told them to.
\nShow us how to speak;
\nshow us how to act
\nto be able to stand against injustice
\nand bring the powerful to account.<\/p>\n

Lord, I look forward to seeing your hand at work,
\nto seeing justice win victories large and small.
\n(May that justice come sooner rather than later.)<\/p>\n

And may I remember to praise you after each victory, big or small,
\nand look forward to the day when the leaves of the tree of life
\nwill bring healing to all the nations.
\nEven so, bring that healing, Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,62,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-laments","category-laments-for-lent","category-praying-with-the-psalmists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14177"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14186,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14177\/revisions\/14186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}