CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
July 3, 2004
KEEP PRAYING FOR:
Our congregation Our nation, military and leaders
Various friends, relatives and co-workers James, David and Leon in the military
Vacation travelers including the Mearns Carole Berry
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!
BIRTHDAYS: 13th - George, Sharnel 17th - Larry Ross Jr 18th - Travis King
SUMMER YOUTH SERIES:
July 11 - Watters Road with David Fraze July 25 - First Colony
July 18 - West Houston August 1 - Southeast
GOD’S UNFAILING LOVE
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love” (Psalm 51:1).
The Hebrew word hesed is used two hundred and forty eight times in the NIV. It is translated as either love, kindness, or unfailing love most of the time. It is the word that is used in a number of familiar texts. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:5-6; Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; and Nahum 1:3). This word is translated in the Greek as agape’, love that seeks the best for another.
What is interesting about the Hebrew word is that is often found in lament texts. How then can we understand God’s love when we are suffering? Michael Card has a new book on this subject called A Sacred Sorrow, subtitled “Reaching out to God in the lost language of lament” (Navpress, 2005). Lament is found in the idea of the wilderness, whether literally being chased by enemies like David, or in loss like Job and Jeremiah. Card asks the following: “Why then, does God enshrine so many laments in His Word?…Why are so many biblical characters shown as disappointed and angry with God” (p. 30)? Sometimes lament is related to a loss of relationship through death, sin, or hate. Other times it is sorrow at one’s situation. Lament is a means to focus one’s anger or sorrow toward God rather than on ourselves. Rather than seeking revenge for what an enemy has done, a lament is offered to God to allow God to handle our enemies. We lament to prevent us from revenge, and to show God’s love to others.
Among those we are familiar with in lament are David, Job, Jeremiah, and Jesus. A prayer of lament or protest is a prayer of faith, turning our frustrations and anger over to God. Lament is a means of worship to God, recognizing His love and His rule over us. Job worshipped in the midst of loss (1:21). His conflict was between his theology and his experience. Something did not add up. His three friends had the same theology but not the same experience. To them, it added up; Job had sinned. But we know that wasn’t the case. Job was being tested and through the testing would learn who God truly was, a God of unfailing love.
David used God’s unfailing love both in praise and in lament. In lamenting God’s lack of response, asking how long God will take, he reminds himself that he trusted in God’s unfailing love (Psalm 13). Psalm 51 is a lament, David’s desire to have a clean heart and that God would not take His Holy Spirit from him. He begins by reminding himself of God’s unfailing love (verse 1).
Jeremiah lost everything. He saw his culture and his religious center destroyed by the Babylonians. And that was after almost forty years of lament for the sins of the people and the warnings he expressed to them. Yet they did not listen. But losing it all? The book of Lamentations is Jeremiah’s lament, his anger at God, at the people, his pain of loss, and his cry to God out of anger and frustration. Yet in the midst of all of that he says the following. “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail” (3:22). “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love” (3:32).
Jesus also laments as Card reminds us. He lamented over the city of Jerusalem, at the tomb of Lazarus, and from the cross. It is interesting that He used the lament of David from Psalm 22:1. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Once again loss is in sight. Paul laments because of a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7).
Why lament? It draws us to God. Sometimes we need to be in the wilderness, empty and barren, to realize that we must depend on God in His grace and not ourselves. Our cultural influences have caused us to be independent rather than dependent. We do not cry because that is not the “manly” thing to do. We tell those suffering loss that it will be okay, just trust God, but give them no means to do that. Lament is the means God has provided to begin again to seek and trust Him. We express anger at God and ask questions. How long? Why? What does it all mean?
Michael Card’s book is a needed reference to an important Biblical topic. This is not a scholar writing to a scholarly audience, but rather a committed believer writing to other believers showing that rather than holding in our anger and frustration, our pain and sorrow, God has provided a way to release these, and as such to draw closer to God in worship and praise. It doesn’t make sense to us. We often think of praise as a happy time or worship as a serious thing, but not meant for lament. I believe we have missed an important spiritual aspect of life. Our lament can lead to repentance, to hope, to comfort, and to renewed focus on God. We do not have many songs of lament, but we have some that were written out of loss and lament. “It Is Well With My Soul” is one such song. Much as I like many of the contemporary praise songs as well as the older songs, there are just not many that deal with lament. Considering that the song book of the Hebrew scriptures contains at least fifty laments, it might be time for us to take another long look at this important subject.
George B. Mearns