Sacred Laments
Thursday (November 20)
Sacred Laments
Psalm 74:9-10a
We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Unlike the vivid, picturesque poetry of David’s Psalms, Asaph’s Psalms are typically gut-wrenching. They’re the kind of laments we don’t often hear on Sunday mornings or in mainstream Christian radio. In fact, if some producer in Nashville tried to put new music to these sacred lyrics today, he wouldn’t be able to. The lines are too dark and dour to fit nicely into a clean-cut, four-chord progression. They aren’t the sort of thoughts you can place over a catchy beat and get people bobbing their heads to. Radio stations would pass over Psalm 74:9-10 in an instant in search of something more positive and encouraging. Which reminds me of a conversation I had recently with a Christian brother who I greatly respect but who shares an entirely different approach to modern worship. He listened to a few of my recorded ballads that move from minor chords to major chords, illustrating the up-and-down nature of the lyrics, and he urged me to write more up-beat, happy-go-lucky hymns. “Seth,” he said to me with a chuckle, “When I turn on the radio, I don’t want to hear laments; I want to hear something that makes me happy.” Well, I get that—I really do. But the fact is God didn’t just inspire the Psalm 23s and the Psalm 119s of this sacred Psalter. He inspired the Psalm 74s as well. And saints don’t just write songs from the mountaintops of transfiguration. They write songs from the valleys of deep shadows, too. If the LORD of heaven inspired Asaph to pen this song, then it’s a song worth singing—even if it isn’t always the one we’re in the mood to hear.
Friend, let’s learn from Asaph’s example here and go to God with all our hearts, even the parts that don’t come out all peachy and rosy, bringing a humble spirit, but never trying to save face before the One Who sees all. Let’s entrust Him today with our hard questions, our painful questions, knowing that if He was strong enough and loving enough to shoulder our cross, He can shoulder our confusion, too.