Meeting God in the PsalmsSample

Experiencing God in Lament

We’ve chosen the God path so there will be joy. But much of the world chooses their own way—so there will be trouble. And we live in a broken world—disease, accidents, the loss of loved ones—becomes a part of our lives. But we’ll find that even in our deepest troubles we can experience the peace and presence of God in profound ways.

In Psalm 3 David wrote from perhaps the worst kind of trouble imaginable: his own son was trying to kill him.

But—even though David was being pursued by his son and an entire army, he writes, “I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the Lord sustains me.”

How does he get there—to that incredible and most miraculous sense of peace?

Verse 4: "I call out to the Lord and he answers me."

This is for us too. Call out to the Lord. Whatever your trouble. Whatever you’re feeling. In the midst of your trouble you might feel forsaken—but the moment we call out, we begin to be rescued. In another psalm, David wrote, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away.” Isn’t that true for us as well? The moment we call on God, we are rescued from the captivity of silence. Lament builds a linguistic ladder from our broken hearts to the heart of our Father on his throne.

Our words propel us from our problem into his presence

We are calling out to a God who knows and feels our pain, who understands our griefs and our trouble. Who has himself experienced the greatest suffering of all—when he hung on that cross, paying the price for our sins, so that we could be freed from sin and death.

When we call out to God, The trouble does not always disappear. But our anxiety and fear CAN. Enough that David can sleep in the midst of 10000 enemies. God may not always keep trouble away—but he will be with us and he will equip us in the midst of it.

So let’s do it. Let’s step into lament, and experience this peace of God for ourselves. We can read David’s psalm and take those words as our own. But—we can do more than this. The psalms are not intended to silence our own words of lament, rather to teach us how to lament.

So enter the Psalm, with your own voice, your own story and lament which God so longs to hear. You can do this by reading the psalm aloud and adding your story, your words to wherever they fit: Instead of “Lord how many of my foes!” you might say, “Lord, How many are my struggles!” and then name them. Go through verse by verse aloud, speaking your story and circumstances to God.

If you have a little more time, write your personalized lament out, by hand, verse by verse, just 6 verses, following the pattern and movement of David’s psalm. That linguistic ladder from your heart to God’s throne. Then read it aloud to your Father. You’ll be amazed at how those extra minutes will deepen your experience of God’s presence and his comfort even in the midst of trouble.

From the Lord comes deliverance. May his blessing be on his people.