A Lonely Lament

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You.  Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer me speedily.  For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned like a hearth.  My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat my bread.  Because of the sound of my groaning, My bones cling to my skin.  I am like a  pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.  I lie awake.  And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop…But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.  But You are the same, And Your years will have no end.  The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before you.” –Psalm 102:1-7, 12, 27-28 (NKJV).

Psychologists tell us that following special holidays, depression can easily beset persons.  The writer of Psalm 102 must have been experiencing such a let-down of spirits following some great event in his life, and once it was over he sank into deep depression   This is a prayer of a deeply afflicted person when he is overwhelmed with a serious “pity-party” syndrome and pours out his complaint before the Lord.  The psalms that are laments teach us several important lessons.  First and foremost is that there are times when we feel “down” in spirit.  In our humanity, we are often buffeted by circumstances, people’s treatment of us, even by our own minds that cannot continuously choose what is best and good for us.  The epigraph of this Psalm, written later, no doubt, as an editorial statement, makes it clear that this is an “individual lament.”  The “I” who composed this psalm, whose troubles are so poignantly enumerated, sees himself as a member of a community.  But for the present, in his deep trouble, he is like “a pelican of the wilderness…an owl of the desert…a sparrow alone on the housetop.”  With what poetic power the psalmist states his condition and his case!  He is making a step in the right direction by acknowledging his bereft condition.  He is not hiding it nor denying it.  A great step in healing of the mind and spirit comes in honest acknowledgement of the problems faced.  I am a great believer (and practice) of personal journaling.  It helps to “write out” what troubles you.  Often the answers come, just by voicing the deep-set problems.

There seems to be no logical explanation for the Psalmist’s troubles.  We recall the story of Job, and how that righteous man suffered greatly.  He was ridiculed by his friends who held to the old belief that troubles were somehow “earned”—that they came as a reward of evil doing.  God did not seem to be hiding His face from the psalmist because of any specific sin or sins the person had committed.  Which brings us to the question often asked:  “Why do good people suffer?’  There is no sufficient answer to this question except that, in the way we handle adversity, God can be glorified.  Singing a prayer, even of lament, equips the person through the eye of faith to search for God’s ultimate purposes.  Psychologists also tell us that it is good to list our “complaints” or “laments” and make them open to evaluation.  What wonderful conclusions the lament-maker, the complaining psalmist reaches in this psalm!  God hears and regards the prayer of the destitute (see 102:17).  Considering the power and omnipotence of God (102:25-28), the psalmist comes to the victorious conclusion that God “is the same,” His years have no end; and the children of God will be established!  We are not to be ashamed, therefore, for expressing lonely laments and occasionally having a “pity party.”  But we are not to stay in that defeatist frame of mind.  Victory is ours through remembering the gracious mercies of the Lord!

Prayer.  Lord, sometimes after a holiday and a great time of rejoicing, we have an emotional and spiritual “let-down.”  Forgive our lack of control, our periods of darkness and lament. Sometimes problems are due to sheer loneliness or excessive tiredness.  But, like the Psalmist, may we remember and recount Your mercies and know we are never alone.  You are with us.  Amen.