LAMENT PSALMS APPLICATION (PS. 41-43)

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” -Psalm 42:5-6a, 11; & 43:5

CHAPTER OF THE WEEK: Psalm 42-43 You can read it every day or just once, pray it, meditate on it, talk about it, or find other resources about it.

VERSE OF THE WEEK: Psalm 42:5-6a, 11; & 43:5 You can memorize it, read it every day or just once, pray it, meditate on it, talk about it, or find other resources about it.

ON THE LOOKOUT: Over the next few months, we’ll be taking a look at the different categories of the Psalms. There are all sorts of categories and themes in Psalms. Keep looking for attributes of God, prophecies and allusions to Jesus, things we can trust God with, verses of lament right next to verses of praise or trust, thanksgiving, verses that have patterns, wisdom, and add to your list looking for the theme of the week.

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK: A Heart Set Free book by Christina Fox. For my book review, click here. For a link to buy the book, click here.

SONG OF THE WEEK: “Why Are You Cast Down Weary Soul” by Living In Tension YouTube link, Spotify link.

PLAYLIST FOR THE WEEK: Here is a playlist with songs from Psalms 41-43 YouTube link, Spotify link.

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK: As you read Scripture this week, see if you can categorize or find themes in the passages. Especially look for verses including lament.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “When it comes to understanding our emotions and knowing how to express them, God’s word is our authority there as well. In his grace, he has given us the Psalms of lament to help us navigate the painful emotions and circumstances of life. In reading and studying the laments, we will be changed by them. They will give us hope. They will draw us deeper into his grace.” – from A Heart Set Free by Christina Fox

THOUGHTS on Ps. 41-43

In the last post, we took a look at what laments are and where and when we see them in the Bible. Since they are all over the Scriptures you’ve probably encountered a lament or two. Keeping in mind that all Scripture is profitable for us (2 Tim. 3:16-17), the next question we should seek to answer is how we can use laments in our everyday lives to deepen our relationship with God.

Laments are useful when you pray. After all, the entire book of Psalms is basically a bunch of prayers set to music. The Psalms are useful templates for prayer. I think most people tend to spend their prayer time requesting things of God and occasionally offering thanks. If we stick to such simplicity, our prayer lives will dry out or be nonexistent and we will easily feel disconnected from God. If you are a believer, you have a relationship with God. You can keep your relationship with God one-sided, formal, and distant, but it’s so much better to go deeper. We are emotional beings living in a fallen world and when we pray to God in honesty about our feelings and what we are experiencing, our relationship with Him deepens similar to when we open ourselves up to another human. Use the emotions you see in the lament Psalms as a way to honestly and biblically communicate with God.

Laments are useful when you need to repent. In modern evangelical western churches, it’s not very trendy to talk about repenting and spending dedicated time confessing our sins to God and others. This is not the trend of the Psalmist at all! There are whole Psalms dedicated to repentance (Ps. 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). These Psalms are great examples of what it looks like to examine our hearts, mourn our sin, seek God’s forgiveness, and accept His grace. If you’re feeling distant from God or stagnant in your faith, consider spending some time with God confessing your sins.

Laments are useful when there are no words. The Pain and suffering in this life is overwhelming at times. There are moments when travesties happen that cannot be explained in human terms. We might find ourselves unable to reconcile God’s goodness with the evil in our world. In those dark times, we might find ourselves with no words to pray. Go to the Psalms. Pray the words of saints who have come before and struggled with the same burdens. You might feel alone and cast off, but there are centuries of faithful believers who have come before you and felt the same feelings. Pray their words when you can’t speak your own. The Psalms are not an instant fix to our feelings and our problems, but if we continue to use them in the darkest valleys, we will once again enjoy God in the green pastures.

Laments are useful in changing your perspective. My husband just this morning posed to me the concern that maybe the Psalmists had bad theology. We know God does not forget any of His people, so why does the Psalmist claim that God has forgotten him in Psalm 42:9? Or that God is sleeping in Psalm 44:23? If we delve into Psalm 42-43 a bit, we get a pretty good idea. These two Psalms are thought to originally be one Psalm and you can see why. With the two Psalms together there are basically three long verses and one refrain or chorus that repeats after each verse. In section one, the Psalmist bemoans his physical distance from the house of God and longs to be closer to God’s people. The second section is full of laments about the enemies in the land he lives. In the third section, he asks God to act. A clue about the dichotomy between theology and the Psalmists prayer is hinted at in Psalm 42:9. Yes, the Psalmist claims that God has forgotten him, but He begins by saying God is His Rock: “I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’” This verse seems contradictory. We must remember that these are prayers. These are conversations with God. And we must remember we are emotional beings. Which leads us to the following point:

Laments show us how to process deep emotional responses to the difficulties in this world in order to help our attitudes, heart, and perspective align with God. How can the Psalmist claim God to be His Rock and claim that God has forgotten Him? Psalms of lament are honest conversations with God. In them, we see that we can accuse God of acting contrary to His character (like sleeping or forgetting), as long as we end with the truth that God is indeed not contrary even though it appears that way to us. We see this so well in the book of Job. Job demands an audience with God to get an answer for what is going on. God’s response was basically, “who are you compared to Me?”. The Psalmists also go through this process. They demand an answer from God and then remind themselves of God’s unchanging character. See this in Psalm 42:5-6a, 11; & 43:5: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Just like the Psalmist demonstrates in these verses, we sometimes need to talk to ourselves and remind ourselves who God is. When we go through this process, our perspective on our situation and life will definitely change, just like Job and just like the Psalmists.

I cannot express often enough how wonderfully useful the Psalms are to a believer. Feeling a lot of deep emotions, happy or sad or other? Read a Psalm. Questioning God’s character? Read a Psalm. Discouraged and weary of this life? Read a Psalm. The more familiar we are with these gems, the more we are guaranteed to deepen our relationship with God.