{"id":14298,"date":"2026-02-21T23:51:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T03:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14298"},"modified":"2026-02-21T23:51:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T03:51:02","slug":"laments-for-lent-week-one-address-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14298","title":{"rendered":"Laments for Lent: Week One – Address to God"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Lent has begun!<\/p>\n

As I did last year, I’m going to write a blog series called Laments for Lent<\/a>, in preparation for writing a book with the same name, a follow-up to my book and website Praying with the Psalmists<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

I know, it’s been a year, and the book isn’t written yet. But that gives us an opportunity to walk through the process of writing a lament. In the book, I’ll have a 40-day reading plan for the Laments and Psalms of Confession in Psalms. (Or try my 6-week reading plan<\/a> for reading all the Psalms.) Each week, we’ll focus on one of the six parts of a Lament.<\/p>\n

I made an acronym for the parts of a Lament:<\/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

This week, let’s talk about the Address to God.<\/p>\n

I usually focus on the straightforward ones that essentially say, “Here I am, Lord; please listen to my prayer.” Today I feel like looking at the ones that start with a question.<\/p>\n

Psalm 10:1–<\/p>\n

Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
\nWhy do you hide yourself in times of trouble?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 13:1–<\/p>\n

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
\nHow long will you hide your face from me?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 22:1–<\/p>\n

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
\nWhy are you so far from saving me,
\nso far from my cries of anguish?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s a bit from Praying with the Psalmists<\/em>:<\/p>\n

A common thread in all the Laments is that even in deep distress, the psalmist turns to the Lord for help. The Address to God simply says, Lord, I\u2019m turning to you; please hear my prayer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even when the psalmists start with a question, at least they’re bringing their pain to God.<\/p>\n

My plan is to write an example lament each week of Lent. Phooey, it doesn’t have to be an example. It’s a lament from my heart – and I post it to encourage others to write laments, too. (Post in the comments!)<\/p>\n

There are a lot of things I could write a lament about. But today on my heart is the Epstein child sex trafficking ring. (I read Virginia Guiffre’s book<\/a>, and it is all so horrifying.)<\/p>\n

A Lament for Children Abused<\/p>\n

Father, why have so many children suffered
\nat the hands of rich and powerful men?
\nHow have they escaped justice
\nfor so many years?
\nMother of All, can you see the wounds
\nin those now-grown children’s hearts?<\/p>\n

“Why does the evil man revile God?
\nWhy does he say to himself,
\n‘he won’t call me to account’?”<\/p>\n

Lord God, thousands of children were raped,
\nabused, sold to others, and terrorized.
\nAnd even now the powerful people responsible
\nare being sheltered,
\nare being protected,
\nas if crimes against these girls don’t count
\nbecause those who are rich
\ncan do whatever pleases them.<\/p>\n

“But you, God, do see trouble and grief;
\nyou consider it to take it in hand.
\nThe victim commits herself to you;
\nyou are the helper of the fatherless.”<\/p>\n

God, if Abel’s blood cried out to you,
\nif you see a sparrow fall,
\nthen surely you know the names of every victim
\nand you know every scar on their bodies and their hearts.<\/p>\n

O Defender of the Oppressed,
\nmay there be a great accounting.
\nMay what was whispered in the dark
\nbe proclaimed from the housetop.
\nMay evil actions be fully exposed
\nand called to account.
\nMay the days of harming others with impunity
\ncome to an end.<\/p>\n

“Break the arm of the wicked and evil man!
\nCall him to account for his wickedness,
\nthat would not be found out.”<\/p>\n

May the metaphorical arm of power coming from wicked people
\nbe utterly shattered, Lord God Almighty.<\/p>\n

Father, we do know their day is coming.
\nThe rumblings have started,
\nthe evil schemes are unraveling.
\nWe know that ultimately justice belongs to you,
\nDefender of the Helpless.<\/p>\n

And we will rejoice
\nwhen the oppressed find justice.
\nWe will delight when victims get
\nto see their oppressors face judgment.
\nWe will praise your name forever,
\nAvenger of the Innocent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lent has begun! As I did last year, I’m going to write a blog series called Laments for Lent, in preparation for writing a book with the same name, a follow-up to my book and website Praying with the Psalmists. I know, it’s been a year, and the book isn’t written yet. But that gives […]<\/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-14298","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\/14298","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=14298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14300,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14298\/revisions\/14300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}