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The Labor of Lament: Learn to Pray the Psalms in Suffering
This week we turn our attention to the psalms. The psalms are a familiar place to most of us. They are the words of Scripture that resonate with our hurting hearts.
In the teaching video, I’ll share a pattern found in the psalms that help us move to the other side of our place of suffering. A way to pour our hearts out to God in honest, real emotion dropping the mask and laying it all before the Lord. He is our safe place, our refuge, our stronghold. And even when we are wrestling with the “why” and “how” of suffering, we can draw near to God and find rest for our souls.
In the homework, you walked through a psalm looking at a pattern of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation.
Brueggeman’s paradigm from the Psalms for human change: (p. 36 in your book)
- Orientation — I know the questions and the answers. God is doing a good job and all is well!
- Disorientation — I no longer know the questions or the answers. I can’t even find God, and I don’t like the way things are going. What is God doing? Why is this happening to me? Where is God?
- Reorientation — Now I see. I was asking the wrong questions. God has given me a renewed perspective on my situation and I have a deeper walk with Him as a result.
“Lament is how we make our way through the pains of life while clinging to the hope of the gospel. We turn to God in prayer, lay out our complaints, ask boldly, and choose to trust.” —Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy
We grow in our suffering. It draws us closer to our Lord Jesus and matures us in ways we would not know had it not been for the season of hardship and suffering. We can get stuck in the grief of our suffering or we can choose to cling to the Lord, trust who He is and the truth that He is sovereign over all. When we do, He will carry us through to the other side. We may feel a bit bruised and battered, but when get to the other side of our season of suffering, we will experience joy and peace and a new depth in our relationship with our ever-present Lord!
Rejoicing in Christ Jesus, always,
©2024, Susan Cady
