The text: Psalm 3 – NRSV
Life is hard and full of challenges. This we all know. So it shouldn’t be surprising that about one-third of the psalter are laments, songs of sorrow, pain, and suffering. Psalm 3 is the first lament we encounter in the collection, so perhaps it’s appropriate to pause and consider how great a gift these psalms are. In my view, we should not read laments as if the tragedy was happening to someone else. We rather should place ourselves in the psalm as the speaker, and in doing so laments show us how to bring our suffering to God in prayer. This is especially true of individual laments like this psalm, where the speaker is clearly a human individual speaking directly to God. The foes, enemies, and threats are never named, allowing us to substitute freely into the text whatever challenges we are facing.
I’ll add one final note of encouragement. Many of us tend to suffer in silence, as our cultures often regard suffering as a weakness. We humans tend to isolate ourselves from other people when we are feeling sick, down, sad, or troubled. The risk is that when we feel this way, we may also isolate ourselves from God, treating God as if God were human. The good news, as we have discussed, is that God’s presence is always available, right beside us, and laments are a gateway to that presence when we feel unable to reach out. Laments give us permission to “unload” our feelings on God, and assurance that God will not recoil. God can take it. Even better, God will meet us halfway in the midst of the prayer.
Curious about this series of posts? Read the initial post.
Want to catch up on any you missed? See them all by clicking on ‘Lenten Psalms” below.
