Five steps from lament to hope – Advent Psalms of Lament, Part 5

This week I welcome guest blogger, Jeff Byerly. Jeff is my pastoral colleague, friend, ThD classmate, and traveling partner! He and his wife Tasha have two daughters, a son-in-law and new grandbaby!

Are you ready for another Psalm of Lament? Open a Bible to Psalm 12. This time I want to show you a simple pattern of a psalm of lament. It involves five simple steps, and we will cover them as we read.

I selected this psalm because it is such a good psalm for us to consider within our current societal mood today (Remember zeitgeist?).

Step 1 – Turn: ¹ Help, Lord …

The first step is to realize your condition—and your powerlessness to change your outcome.

We are often too confused or involved with too much pain to effectively handle our desperate situations.

So our first consideration must be to TURN our attention to God for help. The next thing for David in this psalm is to present his complaint.

Step 2 – Complain:

¹ … for no one is faithful anymore;
    those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
² Everyone lies to their neighbor;
    they flatter with their lips
    but harbor deception in their hearts.

Listen to this accusation. Can you hear the honesty in David’s sorrow?

If his accusations are true, then David is obviously without the resources to change the situation. He offers his honest feelings from his own appraisal.

In fact, we might agree with him.

David asks God to do something about it.

Step 3 – Request:

³ May the Lord silence all flattering lips
    and every boastful tongue—
⁴ those who say,
    “By our tongues we will prevail;
    our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

David provides his suggestion—a realistic suggestion for God to handle. In effect, “Silence their flattering lips—Take away their pretense! Silence their boastful tongue—Put them in their place! Bring your justice to bear on this societal problem.”

Hmmm, we might want to make that same request in our world today!

The question we might consider is: Will God actually care enough to do something about this?

Step 4 – Seek Justice:

⁵ “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
    I will now arise,” says the Lord.
    “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
⁶ And the words of the Lord are flawless,
    like silver purified in a crucible,
    like gold refined seven times.

The answer is YES! God is always just in his actions! God stands up for the oppressed and cares about righting wrongs.

Apparently, David’s concern is a matter of how these behaviors affect the poor and needy! Since God is concerned with justice, he seeks to protect them.

This highlighted phrase is a reminder to the reader that God does care for their situation. They are not alone; he is present; and he is aware.

As a result, we too can trust in God’s protection.

Step 5 – Trust / Hope:

⁷ You, Lord, will keep the needy safe
    and will protect us forever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
    when what is vile is honored by the human race.

So, let me ask you: How do you feel now?

Laments are designed not only to lift us out of gloomy situation—but to lift us above it—to give us a renewed perspective … if we follow the pattern of Psalms of Laments:

Turn – Complain – Request – Seek Justice – Trust / Hope

Consider that you can write your own psalm of lament. Turn to God. Find a complaint. Make a request. Observe God’s just ways. And embrace the hope that emerges.

So let’s conclude by recognizing for a moment that we are in Advent. We have been given a Messiah who provides us with hope.

As we begin Advent, perhaps we can cast off our gloom as we turn, complain, request, seek justice, and hope for the future we are in.

It’s the beginning of a journey that ends in Bethlehem with a Savior.

He is the hope of the nations.

He is the hope for when things aren’t going right in our worlds.

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

(Lamentations 3:22-24)

Photo by Taylor Wright on Unsplash