Lament
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Lord of my darkest place:
Let in your light.
Lord of my greatest fear:
Let in your peace.
Lord of my most bitter shame:
Let in your word of grace.
Lord of my oldest grudge:
Let in your forgiveness.
Lord of my deepest anger:
Let it out.
Lord of my loneliest moment:
Let in your presence.
Lord of my truest self – my all:
Let in your wholeness.
by Alison Pepper in A Book of a Thousand Prayers
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Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times by Soong-Chan Rah
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Lament stems from an acute experience of pain, be it physical, emotional, or spiritual. It is the human response to anguish and adversity, and is not bound by the rules of praise. Instead, lament can take the form of complaint, in the sense of bemoaning the troubles one has undergone…(and) complaint in the sense of arguing with and complaining to God about one’s situation and protesting its continuation. - Soong-Chan Rah
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Lamentations 1-5
Isaiah 40
Isaiah 49:8
Isaiah 52
Isaiah 53
Shepherd of the Valleys
by Wendy Gerdes
Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me….
A couple of years ago, we found ourselves in a difficult season of life. My soul felt a crushing weight and every waking moment, my mind fought fears, disappointment and grief. I had a picture in my mind of standing at the edge of a very large field still smoldering with smoke. The fire had been large and it seemed everything we had worked for in the previous season of our lives had not only disintegrated, but burned to the ground. Questions and grief swirled as I stood at the edge feeling great remorse we had spent so much of our blood, sweat and tears giving to something that had ended so badly. The disappointment and questions ran deep. I sensed Jesus come up beside me, put His arm around me and begin to show me that even though I couldn’t see it, He had plans for the field and the burned out field wasn’t the final story. Maybe you too have a burned out field in your life you are grieving through? He has a story He is still writing with your life too. It’s okay if you can’t see it yet.
Not long after God gave me this picture, I was journaling with God and heard, “We’re going down,” and I saw a picture of walking deeper into a dark, steep valley. Immediately I thought, “Down? I thought we were already ‘down.’ Does this mean we’re going ‘down, down’?” It did. But..
There was something in that sentence that gave me something to tether my hope to. The ‘we’ in ‘we’re.’ This meant no matter how dark the valley got or how much I did not know my way through it; no matter how big the shadows got or how unsure my footing was going to be; the sure-footed God and who sees as well in the darkness as He does in the light was going to be with me. The God who can handle our tears, our questions and our pain would be the tender Shepherd leading me through. He is the one leading you too.
This is true in our personal lives, it is true in our communities and it is true in our world. God mourns with those who mourn and He cares tenderly for humanity in pain. There is a lot of pain in this broken world we live in. He indeed has the whole world in His hands but sometimes it is hard to remember.
My heart and my tears aren’t heavy to Him. Yours aren’t either. The tears and cries of the suffering in the world do not fall on deaf ears. He holds us tenderly in His arms in our most difficult and vulnerable moments. He holds our loved ones and the ones our hearts break for in His arms too. We do not always know it but it’s always true. It’s okay when we can’t see it yet in the circumstances. He is tender with us in those moments too. The invitation for us is to always “Come as you are.” The Shepherd of the green pastures and still waters is the Shepherd of the valleys. We are never apart from our Good Shepherd. And this Good Shepherd also cares more deeply about the pain in us and around us than we do.
In Psalm 23, there is a subtle shift in verse 4 that remind us about the beauty that can come from suffering.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for YOU are with me;
YOUR rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
In verse 4, David shifts from talking about God to talking to God. Could it be that it is in the valleys of our life, the places of lament, where suffering meets the beauty of a deeper intimacy and a depth with God we could not have known without the pain? Let’s bring our pain and lament for ourselves and for others to our Gentle Shepherd who is the Shepherd of the Valleys too.
May we know intimacy with our Good Shepherd and may the world know Him too.
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