Lament

a short section early in worship

Lament

How long, O Lord.

Where are you, Lord

These are cries of Lament

The Lament psalms give expression to the deepest moments of human pain;

anger, confusion, questioning, and despair are all said out loud.

In a time of crisis, personal or communal

the palmist cried out to God:

How long, O Lord, or

what is going on or

when are you going to come and make things right?

These psalms are important for several reasons.

First, they give us words for the deepest, darkest nights of our lives -- when the bottom drops out, when the pain seems too much to bear. Second, the tell us that God is big enough for everything we've got -- 

our pain, 

our anger, 

our questions, 

our doubts.

They even suggest that genuine biblical faith is comfortable challenging God. And that God is present with us precisely when it feels like God isn't there.

While these psalms are a way of expressing anger and confusion, they do so in a way which claims the promise of God's presence in the midst of our suffering and also the promise that the God-who-is-with-us will preserve us from evil and bring us to a new day when the sun will rise and light will dawn.[i]

I am guessing that at some point in your life you wanted to shake your fist at God and ask why?

[followed by a PPT of Out of the Depths I cry to you O Lord.]

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[i]  https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3270