Lenten Evening
Prayer
PSALM 22: A PRAYER
OF LAMENT
Beloved people of
God, grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.
Why do bad things
happen to good people?
Why do bad things
happen to people of faith?
Why do bad things
happen to innocent children?
In some cases
human causes can be discerned for the bad things that happen to us. But some bad things cannot be
explained. We may not blame God for
causing them to happen.
Nevertheless, we may wonder why God allows them to happen. Why does God not step in and stop at
least the worst things from happening?
Whether or not we
can explain the bad things that happen to us, we are left with the question: “In difficult times to whom are we to
turn?”
The Psalmists
leave no doubt as to whom they turned to in times of trouble. They turned to the Lord God. A lament Psalm is a prayer to God in a
time of suffering or trouble.
Approximately 60 out of the 150 Psalms are laments. The Psalmists had experienced it all:
serious illness, deep isolation from God and humanity, threats, persecution,
imprisonment, and every conceivable peril on earth.[1] They express to God whatever is on their
hearts and minds: sorrow, bitterness, frustration, disappointment, hatred,
agony.
The hostility
expressed in Psalm 21 was so graphic and troublesome that along with a number of
other Psalms, it was left out of the green hymnal—The Lutheran Book of Worship. Verses 8-10 read: “Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them like a fiery furnace
when you appear. The Lord will
swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. You will destroy their offspring from
the earth, and their children from among humankind.” The level of hostility expressed
here seems out of place in the Bible, especially for those who believe in a God
of love.
Others are
troubled by what many consider bad psychology in the lament Psalms. In Psalm 22:6 the Psalmist writes: “But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by
others, and despised by the people.”
This is definitely not an “I’m okay. You’re okay.” perspective. This is not the kind of self-concept
parents and teachers want to encourage in our children. We encourage confession in the Christian
tradition, but we tend not advocate “worm theology.” After all, every one of us is a child of
God, created in the image of God.
Still others are
put off by exaggerated claims of innocence in certain lament Psalms. Consider, for example, Psalm 26:4-7: “I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I
consort with hypocrites; I hate the company of evildoers, and will not sit with
the wicked. I wash my hands in
innocence, and go around your altar, O Lord, singing aloud a song of
thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds.” For diehard Lutherans, this smacks
of self-righteousness.
Some people may
not be able to cite any one particular reason for avoiding the lament
Psalms. It is just hard to stomach
these raw descriptions of how the Psalmists are actually thinking and
feeling. It is kind of like reading
the unedited diary of someone who has experienced hell on earth. Who wants to think and feel like the
writers of lament Psalms?
It is no accident
that the lament Psalms are included in the Bible. Despite the aversion many may have to
the lament Psalms, they are part of God’s word—meant to edify and help the
people of God. In what sense are
they edifying and helpful?
First, they allow
honesty, realism, and integrity. We
do not have to pretend to be other than who we are before
God.
Second, they keep
the conversation with God open.
Nothing stifles a conversation more quickly than to squelch someone’s
genuine thoughts and feelings.
Third, lamenting
is a way to keep talking in times of trouble. It is so easy to become isolated during
difficult periods in our lives and turn in on ourselves. We can become mired in sorrow and
suffering.
Fourth, lamenting
helps us work through a process that is often necessary in times of
suffering. Lament Psalms often
conclude with an expression of trust and thanksgiving. But we need to stress that such an
expression is a conclusion following a period of lamenting. In difficult times expressing one’s
genuine thoughts and feelings can lead to a deeper trust in God. To stifle these genuine thoughts and
feelings can be destructive in one’s relationship to God.
As I have
mentioned before, Dietrich Bonhoeffer loved the Psalms more than any other book
of the Bible. When he was
imprisoned by the Nazis, the lament Psalms were especially instructive to him in
how to respond to suffering. The
lament Psalms taught him not to deny suffering. They warned him against deceiving
ourselves with pious words about suffering. They modeled for him what it meant to
allow suffering to stand as a severe ordeal of faith. And these lament Psalms showed him that
even at times when we can no longer see beyond our suffering, we can still
complain about it all to God.[2]
We are truly free
to share whatever is on our hearts and minds with God. It is most instructive that everyone of these lament Psalms is
addressed to God. Even when they
are struggling with their thoughts and feelings toward God, they do not hesitate
to lament to God.
Psalm 22:1 reads:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” These are words that Jesus
himself spoke from the cross. He
too experienced the depths of human suffering. What could be more agonizing than
feeling abandoned by God? And yet
he stilled turned to God.
Our Lord himself,
therefore, like the Psalmists, did not hesitate to lament. We too need never hesitate to
lament. In our times of deepest
sorrow and suffering we too need never be afraid to turn to God and share
whatever is on our hearts and minds.
In Jesus’ name,
AMEN.