HOW LONG, O LORD?

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me?

Consider me and answer, Lord my God. Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise, I will sleep in death.
My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,” and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to the Lord because he has treated me generously.
PSALM 13

THE EVEN GROUND OF LAMENT

The post I originally wrote for today all of a sudden felt very trite and shameful. In it, I lamented the last 16 years of my life and the losses I’ve surveyed in those years. But since writing, a war has broken out. How do I write about my own grief when there are far worse horrors being experienced not far from here? Could a Ukrainian woman read my words and feel seen and loved?

But here’s what I’ve realized…the laments found in the bible are exactly where both the Ukrainian woman and myself can find a place to land. This week we are looking at Psalm 13 and asking the question: HOW LONG, O LORD? Does that question work for her? Does it reflect the groans in her heart? YES. Does it meet me where I am today—miles and miles away and suffering from a completely different kind of ache? YES. The lament passages of the bible have been a balm to weary, broken hearts for over 3,000 years!

AT THE CROSS, the refugee, the divorced, the abused, the broken find love, salvation and mercy. All are on equal footing there. And IN THE LAMENTS OF THE BIBLE the refugee, the divorced, the abused, the broken find the grace of refuge, reprieve, empathy and hope. God’s Word is powerful. It meets each of us personally and collectively with Jesus—the Man of Sorrows who cried out from the cross words of lament found in Psalm 22—and then laid down His life to purchase salvation, rescue, eternal hope.

And so we cry out, HOW LONG, O LORD? The Ukrainian mama fleeing for her life with her babies strapped to her back cries out How Long? The divorced mama weeping as she tucks her babies into their warm bed in the USA cries out How Long? And both are met with Jesus, Emmanuel God WITH US, our Man of Sorrows who says Come to Me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest (Matthew 11;28). The One who will never snuff out a flickering wick or break a bruised reed (Isaiah 42:3)

He hears you. He cares for you. He invites your cries, your complaints, your questions. Today we cry How Long, O Lord? But one day we will cry out together Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lamb who was slain—the tears absent from our faces, wiped away eternally by our Man of Sorrows, our God who Sees Us (Genesis 16).

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

— Psalm 13 —

Where in your life are you asking "How long, O LORD?
(Take a moment to reflect: In what area of my life am I having the thought, “How much longer will I have to endure _____________________?”

Has this caused you to turn towards or away from God?
(When you reflect on that place, do you see bitterness, anger, attempts to ignore God or numb the pain? Or do you see fruit of endurance, increased hope, peace, joy in the midst of trial, renewed faith & trust?)

What would you like God to do? Have you asked Him to act?
(Or have you assumed that He probably never will act because you’ve already asked so many times? Would it be worth pressing on in prayer?)

What steps are you taking to kindle hope, resolve & trust?
(Have you been in God’s Word, seeking His heart on your questions and complaints? Have you brought your church family into this struggle? Have you spent time recounting the past faithfulness of God in your life? What else could you do to renew & rekindle trust?)

FOUNDATION

Lament is the child carrying his complaints to his Father because he knows his Father cares and is able to help. We can not lament rightly if we don’t know and truly believe that God is good and that He does what He promises to do. Therefore, knowing God well is the foundation of lament.

Those who
know Your name
trust in you…
PSALM 9:10

LAMENT RESOURCE NO. 2

Our second lament resource is not actually about lament. Well not specifically! We believe that in order to lament well, we have to know God well. So this week we are sharing one of our favorite resources about the character and attributes of God. We highly recommend you pick up a copy (or check your bookshelf, you may just have an old copy gathering dust!) of J.I. Packer’s masterpiece, Knowing God. This is an incredible work that has literally changed my life. Over one million copies have been sold since it was first published in 1973. His chapter on Knowing and Being Known changed me. Can’t recommend this one more highly!

OK, to be honest—this is not an easy read. It is heady and meaty and has to be read with a considerable amount of focus. But here’s what we would also say—it’s 100% worth the effort. I read it SO slowly but that’s ok! Maybe you could aim to read a page a day or a chapter a week. **Check out our stories today to see a walk through the table of contents.

Runner up is A.W. Towzer’s masterpiece, Knowledge of the Holy. We could hardly choose between the two. Both are incredible at helping to unpack the attributes and character of God.

At the bottom of lament is a belief that God is good and is trustworthy. But how can we know those things if we haven’t pursued a study of God and His nature. To lament fully, we need to pursue knowing God.

Have you read this one? We’d love to hear what you thought of it!

FOR NEXT WEEK

We would encourage you to have a read through Psalm 77 to prepare for next week.

Take note of the four stages of Biblical lament: turning to God, voicing a complaint, asking God to act and resolving to trust. Spend time praying, meditating on and memorizing the verses.

We look forward to looking at this passage together next week! See you Monday…

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