Psalm 73

By Wendy Wood

Psalm 73 is written by Asaph. Aspah was one of David’s musicians in the sanctuary of God. Asaph was a descendant of Levi and therefore one of the temple servants who were known as devoted and godly men. Picture this Psalm coming from one of the worship leaders at your church. Asaph was accustomed to singing God’s praises and leading others to do so, too. Yet, in Psalm 73 he laments over the prosperity of the wicked and opens the Psalm struggling with envy and doubt.

Psalm 73 opens with a statement of truth. “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.”  Asaph knows the truth, yet unbelief gets ahold of his heart.  That truth is immediately followed by “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.  For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Asaph knows God is good, but as he looks around at how life is seemingly playing out, he falls into disbelief. It seems to him that those who are wicked and ignore God, are better off. He’s struggling in his life, and those around him seem to have it easy. Asaph is envious of sinners.

“For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are: they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace, violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness, their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue struts through the earth.”  Asaph is looking at those around him who don’t follow God. He is looking at the men who are dishonest and cheat, yet have the promotions at work and a nicer home than him. He is seeing people who live immorally, yet they get married and have more fun than he’s having even though he’s been faithful to God. Asaph is seeing the person who slandered and bullied him get accolades from others while he is ignored. Asaph is talking to God in his envy. Asaph is telling God, “this seems unfair”. Asaph takes his emotions to God and cries out for understanding.

Asaph tells God, “people are doubting if it’s wise to follow you when they see these wicked men prospering”. The world is questioning if God can be all-knowing and all-seeing and still men are getting ahead and being successful in spite of their sin. Essentially, Asaph is saying “is there any point in following God?”  “Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, “How can God know? Is there any knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.”  The wicked are always at ease and increase in riches.  Who in your life seems to be doing well in spite of sin?  Maybe it is the attitude of  ‘I’ve obeyed God and gotten nothing in return, while others get the job, the spouse, or the recognition that you long for’.  Asaph is putting words to this frustration and envy.  “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.  For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.  If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.”

Asaph turns the corner in verse 16.  He’s exhausted and has made his complaint to God.  He has expressed his emotions, and now turns toward his faithful, covenant keeping God.  “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.”  Where does Asaph get clarity on the situation?  In God’s presence.  He most likely goes to the temple to hear the word of God. 

Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.  How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!  Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.”  Asaph knows that God is just.  Where Asaph has desired justice, his sense of justice has a selfish motive behind it.  God’s justice is perfectly holy.  Asaph is reminded that God hates sin even more than Asaph does.  Asaph finds hope in God’s faithfulness to His own character and word.

Asaph knows his attitude has been sinful.  His envy and frustration have been sin against God and His sovereignty, goodness, wisdom, and love for Asaph.  Aspah repents.  “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.”  He confesses his sin and then recounts how being a follower of God is a better blessing.  “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.”  The believer has God’s presence, always!  The believer is guided by God’s infinite wisdom for every step of life.  Most of all, the believer will be welcomed into eternal glory when this life is over.

And then, Aspah worships!  “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  Asaph is fully convinced that life with God is better than any circumstance change here on earth.  The benefits that seem good, that he has been envious about, are nothing compared to the beauty of being in a relationship with the Lord.  

Asaph now has God’s perspective.  “For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.  But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”  Asaph has lamented well.  He has taken his frustration, confusion, and envy to God, and submitted those desires of justice and prosperity to God.  He has come to God’s presence and been reminded of the Truth.  God is just.  God’s law is better than fine gold and sweeter than honey.  God rewards those who keep His commands (Psalm 19).   Asaph is excited to worship and praise God and declare His faithfulness to those around him.

What confusion or hurt do you need to take to God?

Teaching A Counselee To Lament

By Wendy Wood

David and the Psalmists knew how to express their feelings to God.  We can see in the Psalms  the joyous exclamation of praise and worship as the authors rejoiced in the greatness and goodness of God.  But we also see the reality of sadness and grief expressed in the Psalms of lament.  The Psalmists show us how to take our feelings to God, whether those feelings are positive or negative.  Our culture wants us to believe that negative emotions are abnormal and can be “fixed” with medication or we should distract ourselves with a pleasurable experience.  But God's word tells us differently. The bible is full of real people with real emotions.  We see Tamar in shame and grief over a horrible evil that has been done to her.  We see Elijah discouraged and self-pitying sitting under a tree just after an amazing display of God’s power and presence.  David is sad and overwhelmed as he is pursued by Saul and his men looking to kill him.  Asaph, a worship leader, expresses bewilderment and confusion as it seems evildoers are prospering and he is not.  God invites us and shows us how to express our genuine feelings to Him and how to seek help and hope in times of sadness and grief.

Our counselees will benefit from learning that negative emotions are a normal part of life in a sin-cursed world.  Jesus expressed His troubled emotions in the Garden of Gethsemane.  If Jesus, who never sinned, experiences a distressed and troubled soul in this world, we too should expect times of difficulty and negative emotions.  Being sad is not wrong or sin.  Being grieved is a normal response to this world.  Our counselees need to see that God created us in His image, to experience the full range of emotions, and that God has purpose in our emotional responses.

God wants our emotions to draw us closer to Him.  God desires that we take our emotions to Him, to be honest and bold in our expressions of sadness and hurt.  God wants our dependence on Him when we are experiencing these emotions.  

The Biblical lament does not stop at the expression of emotion.  We are not to just sit in the depressed state of negative feelings, but are called to remember who God is, to recount His faithfulness through scripture and our lives, and to commit to trust God and His promises in the moment and for the future.  The Psalms were songs for public worship. The Psalmists expected that worshippers would feel scared, sad, overwhelmed and confused at times. David and the people of God sang about their sadness and grief and expressed hope in God corporately as a way of worship. Our counselees need to lament and come boldly to the throne of God to find hope and mercy (Hebrews 4:14-16).

I frequently use Psalm 13 and Psalm 73 as examples to teach counselees how to lament.  In following the pattern set out in scripture, a counselee can honestly express their hurt feelings and be met by a sympathetic High Priest in Christ who also has experienced those emotions (Hebrews 4:14-16).  They can experience the comfort and mercy from God that He offers to His children (2 Corinthians 1:3-8).  And they can declare the faithful works of God (Psalm 136) and declare His attributes and character (Psalm 103:6-14), and rest in the promises yet to come (1 Peter 5:10). A lament helps us remember that in this world, we will be sorrowful yet always rejoicing. The sorrow is real. We really do suffer. But the rejoicing is real, too, because God is God.

Psalm 13 is short and an easy pattern to follow. I suggest you start here with your counselee. 

Psalm 13

How Long, O Lord?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

    How long will you hide your face from me?

2   How long must I take counsel in my soul

    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Verses one and two express the emotion.  The difficulty has been going on for a long time.  “How long?” asks David.  It feels like an eternity to David.  “How long will you hide your face from me?” expresses that it feels like God is distant and not answering David’s prayers.  David clearly states he is sorrowful.  He is upset that people around him are cruel and mistreating him.  David doesn’t sugarcoat the hardship he is going through.  But the key is that David goes to God.  He’s not complaining to a friend.  He’s not gathering support for his pity-party.  David goes to God and therefore demonstrates that He trusts God as the Sovereign One over the situation David finds himself in.  David goes to God because he knows that God loves him and has the power to act.

3   Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;

    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4  lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”

    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

David then makes a request as a plea to God.  David needs help! “Consider and answer me” is a request for help that again demonstrates that he trusts God has the answers!   “Light up my eyes” is David asking for God to show him Truth and lead him through his difficult circumstances. David is trusting God’s justice in righting the wrongs of his enemies and trusts that God will vindicate him.  David shows faith in God through these requests.  He takes his feelings to the only One who can help him.

5  But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6   I will sing to the Lord,

    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

And then David worships!  David talks to himself.  He stops listening to his emotions and instead speaks to himself of God’s faithfulness and love.  He counsels his heart with Truth. What overflows from his heart is a beautiful statement of his faith and trust in God.  His circumstances haven’t changed yet.  His enemies still surround him.  He still has sorrow and difficulty, but David worships because God is always worthy of worship.

Assign a lament to your counselee.  Have them pattern a personal lament in this six verse format.  The first two verses should express the situation and feelings they are experiencing.  The second two verses should be a cry for help.  The last two verses are a declaration of truth and worship.   In this world we will have trouble, but God has not left us alone or without means to address every emotion we experience.

PLEAD TO GOD LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT—BECAUSE IT DOES

Shar Walker 

When life gets hard, I find myself turning to slave narratives and Negro spirituals and poetry. That, and the book of Psalms.

The Negro spirituals remind me I come from a long line of men and women who have endured horrific seasons of excruciation that seemed eternal. These songs and poetry are evidence of my ancestors’ hope and faith that God heard them, even when it felt like their suffering had no end—even when it seemed like God was silent. It’s comforting reading and singing about the perseverance of others.

The Psalms remind me that my spiritual lineage goes back even farther to God’s people who are no strangers to lament (Ps. 6:6; 13:1–4; 102:1–11). From wilderness wanderings to prosperity to conquest to exile, the Israelites knew suffering as a close—and often unwanted—confidant.

THE POWER OF LAMENT

When we feel helpless, out of control, or scared, some of us are tempted to go into action mode. We do everything we can to ensure our suffering is minimized with little collateral damage.

But what if our first response was to sit in our mess and pray to God? What if, instead of trying to fix this, we were honest to God how we’re doing and what we’re feeling. What if we simply lamented?

Lament is crying out to God with no immediate hope of relief. Or as Canadian writer Jen Pollock Michel describes lament in Surprised by Paradox:

In language that seems hardly admissible in God’s throne room, as men and women pray to God, they try making faithful sense of the mystery of their suffering—and the love of God in the worst of circumstances. Lament, with its clear-eyed appraisal of suffering alongside its commitment to finding audience with God, is a paradoxical practice of faith.

In America, where we have come to expect prosperity, lament likely seems strange to many of us. Foreign, even. Biblically, there is a powerful history of lament—in the wilderness, throughout Psalms, during the exile.

As our hands crack from the ever-growing stain of soap and hand sanitizer and we breathe recycled air through masks, the current season of pandemic presents the joyous opportunity to have our faith strengthened through this foreign, but ancient, form of prayer.

REMEMBER GOD’S TRACK RECORD—IT’S GOOD

We’re forgetful beings. We’re prone to absent-mindedness. When life is good we tend to feel like we don’t need God.

We’re equally prone to forget God’s track record of faithfulness when things are bad because grief easily overwhelms us to the point where we can only see the despair of the moment. Looking forward—to the ever-growing ambiguity of the future—only causes more anxiety. The stress of what is can cloud our memory of what was. Sadness can blur our recollection of how God has shown up in the past.

In Psalm 44—a corporate psalm of lament—the psalmist begins by reminding readers of God’s goodness, a truth that had been passed down for generations. Truth celebrated by the covenant community. “God, we have heard with our ears—our ancestors have told us—the work you accomplished in their days, in days long ago” (Ps. 44:1).

We worship the same God as our spiritual ancestors. When we read stories that are thousands of years old and we hear the miraculous ways God showed up for his people, we can easily assume a “that was then, this is now” mentality. And yes, in some exegetical circumstances, this is true. Yet he’s still the same God. When moments come that make it hard to see God in our present times, we must not forget to look back. In her book, Michel goes on observing:

Lament was carried on in these acts of remembering. Whenever it became difficult to see God in the present, these ancient men and women conjured up scenes from the past. They let their story part the clouds of divine obscurity and tell them something about God’s nature.

Israel told and retold the story of their deliverance. They recalled and passed on to generations the narrative of God’s faithfulness despite their failures. Perhaps, in this season you need to be reminded of the Lord’s character. Remind your church how God has provided for you and been near to you in past seasons of suffering. As a church, remember and thank the Lord for the previous seasons of corporate trials you have endured.

DESCRIBE YOUR FRUSTRATION TO GOD IN DETAIL—HE CAN HANDLE IT

“Have you been honest with God about your disappointment?” I was shocked by the question from a trusted friend. I was more surprised that my answer was “no”.

Prepping and planning comes naturally to me in the face of unexpected change—prayer doesn’t. Honestly, I’d vented in my head and to my husband a bit, but I didn’t do much beyond that. There were people who have it much worse, so why complain about my small issues from the stresses of working from home with an infant?

But God doesn’t keep score when listening to our prayers. When we’ve completed our lament, he doesn’t follow up with, “Well, that person has it way worse so you should be grateful.” His ever-listening attentiveness is saying, “Tell me more.”

In Psalm 44:9-16, the psalmist details Israel’s national distress: “You hand us over to be eaten like sheep and scatter us among the nations” (Ps. 44:11).

Humiliation, disgrace, and shame are upon them as an unwanted covering. They felt the weight of all this humiliation, disgrace, and shame. The psalmist holds nothing back in his outpouring to the Father. Telling God of the present disaster and distress opens up an opportunity for one to recognize his merciful response. Again, Michel is so helpful here:

There is every indication that God’s mercy is as reliable for suffering that is banal as for suffering that is big. And this is one of the great mysteries of divine love, that I need make no defense for the worthiness of my trouble and the rightfulness of my need.

Of course, there are times we should be more grateful, but biblical lament invites us into an honest and vulnerable conversation with the Lord, no matter how seemingly big or small our problems.

PLEAD TO GOD LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT—BECAUSE IT DOES

Lament can feel like we’re praying to an empty room. We pour out our hearts to God, and it feels like he is silent. The psalmist exclaims, “Wake up, LORD! Why are you sleeping? Get up! Don’t reject us forever! . . . Rise up! Help us! Redeem us because of your faithful love” (Ps. 44:23, 26).

Over and over the psalmist comes back to the Lord and makes his pleas known boldly and clearly. In fact, his prayers of lament and his pleas to God are evidence of his faith.

Our faith in God likewise is strengthened through persistent prayer. After all, we keep returning to the throne room of grace because we believe God is still with us and hears us amid our trials. As soon as we forget this, our suffering appears unbearable.

At times, our life is full of tear-stained pleas to God. We come back, again and again and again, through prayer. We call out knowing he has a proven track record, realizing he can handle all our frustrations. We can cry out to him in honest petition.

He’s a God who hears, and he is a God who sees. He has heard the cries of our spiritual ancestors. Let’s lament knowing he hears our tear-stained pleas as well.

SharDavia “Shar” Walker lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband and son. She serves as the Senior Writer for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Shar is a writer and a speaker and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Christian Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. You can find more of her work at www.sharwalker.com.

Posted at: https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/plead-to-god

How to Say ‘God Is Faithful’ When Suffering Won’t Stop

Jon Aragón

It’s been a tough year for me. While 2018 was filled with creative, financial, and relational blessing, 2019 has been much more difficult.

My wife, Quina, and I have dealt with her ministry burnout and discouraging health issues, along with her grandmother’s death, relational strains with people we love, deferred hopes to conceive another child, and the deportation of my aunt and uncle.

After experiencing so much answered prayer in 2018, this year’s unanswered prayers and unmet desires have done a number on our hearts. You pray and fast and act for something—something as good as justice or reconciliation or healing or a child—but the answer is still “No” or “Not yet.” I’ve discovered that my heart can be so easily filled with bitterness against God as I struggle to reconcile his goodness with the suffering happening all around me.

If God is the God of justice, of reconciliation, of deliverance, of life, then what does it look like to trust him when injustice comes, division remains, and death mocks? How can we still confidently proclaim, “Our God is faithful”—and actually mean it?

Deliverance In, Not From

First, we must acknowledge the ways God is delivering us in our trials, even when he hasn’t delivered us from our trials. Or as Elihu put it, “He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity” (Job 36:15).

God is delivering us in our trials, even when he hasn’t delivered us from our trials.

I would be lying if I said God hasn’t been delivering me in the midst of these trials. I have felt my compassion deepen for the oppressed as my family and I have tasted the injustice of a broken immigration system. I’ve learned to better serve my wife in her health limitations and grief. I’ve grown more honest in my prayer life, which has only drawn me closer to God rather than driven me from him.

Perhaps the sweetest balm of grace in my trials this year has been the steady presence, prayers, and support of my friends and church family. They have shared in my trials in such a way that even when I don’t want to believe it, I can’t help but admit that God sees me and cares for me.

Our Wounded Healer

Second, we must know that our God isn’t just a healer, but a wounded healer, as Henri Nouwen put it. How did Jesus heal our wounds of sin? With his own wounds (Isa. 53:5).

We serve the only God with scars (Luke 24:39–40; John 20:20, 27; Rev. 5:12). The only God willing to take on human flesh and the human experience of pain and limitations, who then took on the full weight of human sin and lived to tell the tale.

Do you know this God? He is the wounded healer who sympathizes with your weaknesses and afflictions. He is the God who gave himself as his greatest gift. Even in the darkness, as the pain settles in, we can proclaim, “Our God is faithful”—and truly mean it.

Proclaim Him in Lament

Last, we can use the voice and the gifts God has given us to proclaim his faithfulness. How do we do this? The psalmists knew it well: we lament.

In his book Prophetic Lament, Soong Chan-Rah states, “Lament challenges the church to acknowledge real suffering and plead with God for his intervention.” What would it look like if your family gatherings, your small group, and your church were consistently marked with Godward lament over injustices and suffering? Perhaps it would look a bit more like Christ himself.

Biblical lament calls us to passionately express our grief, our complaints, our questions, even our anger to God. It calls for messy, inarticulate, snot-filled prayers. It calls for honesty when someone asks, “How can I pray for you?” And it demands that our triumphal assumptions about the Christian life be confronted by the Savior who was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3).

As I’m learning soul honesty with God and others, lament has been a challenging yet refreshing opportunity to lean more deeply into the arms of my faithful Father. I pour out my heart to God in lament, and I rise with much greater conviction that he is, indeed, faithful.

More Faithful Representation

It’s easy for us to only see the highlight reel of people’s lives on social media. But I hope that through our various callings, we can more honestly portray the Christian walk.

That walk that includes both mountaintops and valleys. Lots of valleys. The walk acknowledges the deliverance of our wounded healer, even when the darkness hasn’t fully lifted. And the walk is marked by the kind of lament that exalts God’s faithfulness over and above our own.

This is how we’ll be able to say, “God is faithful”—and truly mean it.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/say-god-faithful-suffering/