Embracing Lament: We can be good news to others who are suffering
My wife and I used to watch the evening news while we ate our supper, even after some television failed to keep her attention. Those days our conversations had degenerated to discussing only whatever was right in front of her—her food, the weather, or the squirrels on our deck. So I appreciated the stimulus of video clips that displayed happenings around the world.
But eventually, I decided this was a bad idea. I noticed she was distracted by the TV and wouldn’t eat. And sometimes I saw her visibly upset by the pictures of tornado damage, bombed-out buildings in war zones, or crying children and anguished mothers helpless in the face of tragedy.
The news wasn’t good for her. Maybe it wasn’t good for me, either.
More than one person has decided to avoid the news because of how it can contribute to a negative outlook. Our world is filled with calamity and heartbreak, so let’s focus on the good we can find instead of making sure we know all about every scoundrel, despot, or disaster.
That’s not a bad strategy. But in our over-connected society, we can’t avoid all bad news. Today’s psalm suggests something better than trying to ignore it: Take every detail to God and ask him to do something about it.
Snippets from today’s text, Psalm 10, read like the news feeds on our phones. The psalmist bemoans the actions and apparent successes of the wicked. “Their helpless victims are crushed” (v. 10).
Psalm 10 reads like the news feeds on our phones.
And then, as almost always happens in the Lament Psalms, he turns to God, not only with a plea for God to act, but also with an affirmation of the Lord’s power that will ultimately prevail.
The Lament Psalms suggest a pattern that can empower our prayers: Be specific with our complaints, and then be encouraged by remembering God still reigns.
But today’s psalm can teach us something even more: We do well to include others in our laments. “Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless,” says the psalmist. “Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.”
Maybe this is something we haven’t thought about in a while. Because we feel burdened by our own troubles, we may have found little energy to pray about the suffering of so many all around us. But asking God to be present in the pain of others can help us lift our eyes away from our own troubles.
The end result may be to do something more than pray. Even as we’re receiving help with our caregiving, we may find ways to help other sufferers with theirs:
Make a phone call or plan a visit.
Share some of the food people have given us, or bake a plate of cookies for a shut-in.
Ask someone to sit with our loved one while we serve in a ministry to the under resourced.
“You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed,” the psalmist declares to God. Maybe God will work through us to help make that happen. Or maybe he’ll use us to lighten the load of another caregiver in our own neighborhood. That would be good news.
Read: Psalm 10
Listen: Psalm 10 Song - Justice for the Orphan and the Oppressed
Pray: O Lord, this world is such a difficult place, but we believe you are present with anyone facing trouble. Help the grieving people we know, and show me how you can nurture at least one of them through me.