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AUGUST 2022 |VOLUME 48| ISSUE NO.8
EVANGEL
OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF FIRST FREE CHURCH
When Life Gets Dark Written by Kirk albrecht
When the bottom falls out in life, what do you do? You have lost your job . . . the diagnosis of your biopsy is positive for stage 4 cancer . . . your marriage is crumbling . . . your children no longer talk to you . . . life seems bleak. What do you do? Each of us has dark moments in life. No one escapes the pains of being human, interacting with other humans, in a broken and fallen world. Over the past year, I have come to gain a deeper appreciation for the Lament Psalms. These are Psalms where the writer (often King David) bears his soul to God about the travails of life, how people have mistreated him, and many times complaints even about God.
Vroegop reveals there are four key points in the structure of Lament Psalms that can guide us through our own struggles: turn complain ask trust in our pain and doubts, we turn to God. This is really the only place we can find the help and perspective we need to weather life's dark days. Often, we don't want to raise any issues. Somehow we feel we should not trouble God with our minor problems. But the Psalms show that is not the case! We must turn to God! Psalm 55 is a classic Lament Psalm. David begins, "Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!" (v.1)
The Lament Psalms are heart-wrenching cries of discontent, questions about justice and fairness, and pleas for God to do something.
When we turn to God, we are telling him we need him that we can't handle things ourselves! That is a good place to be!
I have been helped in understanding the power and place of Lament Psalms by a writer named Mark Vroegop. He helps us see how vital lament is in the life of Christians as we navigate the real world of trials, suffering, pain, questions, and disappointment in life
Then we complain. Yes, that's right - it's OK to complain to God. This marks out what the trouble is. In Psalm 55 there are lots of complaints, but the core is in v.4 - "My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me."