Psalmist Cries, 5of5

 ~ Lament With Confidence In God ~

Introduction  ~  Throughout the Book of Psalms we find a Psalmist crying out to God – lamenting the circumstances surrounding him.  In this series we look at five types of laments found in the Psalms – it is by no means an exhaustive list of the types of laments or the number of psalms in each of the types we look at.  Also, a particular psalm can be labeled in more than one way. 

Example Psalms  ~  “Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me.  Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help.  Also draw out the spear, and stop those who pursue me.  Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation’.  …  And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation.  All my bones shall say, ‘Lord, who is like You, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?’ …  Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who rejoice at my hurt; let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who exalt themselves against me.  …  Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, ‘Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.’  And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long” (Psalm 35:1-3, 9-10, 26-28).

“I said, ‘I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me.’  I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up.  My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned.  Then I spoke with my tongue: ‘Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.  Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.  …  Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.  Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, before I go away and am no more" (Psalm 39:1-5, 12-13).

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?  My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’  …  Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 42:1-3, 11).

“Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!  For You are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off?  Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?  …  Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 43:1-2,5).

 

“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.  …  Return, O Lord!  How long?  And have compassion on Your servants.  Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy.  That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!  Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil.  Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children.  And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:1-2, 13-17).

 

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You.  Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; incline Your ear to me; in the day that I call, answer me speedily. …  But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of Your name to all generations.  You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come.  For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, and show favor to her dust.  So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory.  For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory.  He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer.  …  But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.  The children of Your servants will continue” (Psalm 102:1-2, 12-17, 27-28).

Comment  ~  Have you ever cried out to God while in great distress but maintaining complete confidence in His plan and timing?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

* * * * *

Psalmist Cries, 4of5

 ~ Lament of Questioning God ~

Introduction  ~  Throughout the Book of Psalms we find a Psalmist crying out to God – lamenting the circumstances surrounding him.  In this series we look at five types of laments found in the Psalms – it is by no means an exhaustive list of the types of laments or the number of psalms in each of the types we look at.  Also, a particular psalm can be labeled in more than one way. 

Example Psalms  ~  “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?  O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.  …  My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him” (Psalm 22:1-2, 25). 

“O God, why have You cast us off forever?  Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?  Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed — this Mount Zion where You have dwelt.  Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.  The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.  Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; they set up their banners for signs.  They seem like men who lift up axes among the thick trees.  And now they break down its carved work, all at once, with axes and hammers.  They have set fire to Your sanctuary; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.  They said in their hearts, ‘Let us destroy them altogether.’  They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land. …  Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily.  Do not forget the voice of Your enemies; the tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually” (Psalm 74:1-8, 22-23).

“O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You.  Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry.  For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave.  I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and who are cut off from Your hand.  …  But to You I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before You.  Lord, why do You cast off my soul?  Why do You hide Your face from me?  I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.  Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off.  They came around me all day long like water; they engulfed me altogether.  Loved one and friend You have put far from me, and my acquaintances into darkness” (Psalm 88:1-5, 13-18). 

Comment  ~  Have you ever cried out to God with a cry of questioning God?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

* * * * *

Psalmist Cries, 3of5

 Psalmist Cries, 3of5

~ Lament of Concern ~

Introduction  ~  Throughout the Book of Psalms we find a Psalmist crying out to God – lamenting the circumstances surrounding him.  In this series we look at five types of laments found in the Psalms – it is by no means an exhaustive list of the types of laments or the number of psalms in each of the types we look at.  Also, a particular psalm can be labeled in more than one way. 

Example Psalm  ~  “You have given us up like sheep intended for food, and have scattered us among the nations.  You sell Your people for next to nothing, and are not enriched by selling them.  You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those all around us.  …  All this has come upon us; but we have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way; but You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.

“If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.  Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

“Awake!  Why do You sleep, O Lord?  Arise!  Do not cast us off forever.  Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?  For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground.  Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies' sake” (Psalm 44:11-13, 17-26).

Comment  ~  Have you ever cried out to God with a cry of concern?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

* * * * *