Giving Voice to the Distressed
Minister’s Letter - 7 July 2022
Friends in Christ, in 30 years or so of preaching, I cannot ever recall receiving more messages (email, web connect form etc) than on Psalm 88 last Sunday. And that's alongside deeper than usual conversations afterwards.
This tells us – if you were in any doubt – that many people are living with deep distress of despair or depression... for a whole variety of reasons.
It also tells us that God is so wise to have ensured he included one poem without much of any obvious hope in the Book of Psalms. As I suggested, this tells us that God sees us even in the darkest circumstances.
The experience of Jesus – especially from the Garden of Gethsemane to the cross and the grave – tells us that Jesus can empathise with us in our weakness. And the way he busted out of the grave on the third day reassures us that Jesus meant it when he promised that not even the gates of Hades can prevail against the church Jesus is building (Matthew 16:18).
Even when life seems unrelentingly hard now, it's so good to be able to say with the Creed:
"We believe in the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting."
If you missed the sermon you can watch (or just listen) to it via our YouTube channel.
One wise person said they'd been helped by the Psalm but noted they wouldn't want people to think as a result that there's no point seeking help if you are depressed. And that's also true. The Bible evidences the use of medical treatments (e.g. Isaish 38:21; Ezekiel 30:21; 1 Timothy 5:23). And sometimes for some depression, medication or talking therapy can help. Sometimes even just having a friend who helps you exercise, get some sun, and eat well can be of assistance. But it's not always so easy by any means.
And so Psalm 88 really can be a great help facing sad reality, as so many found last Sunday.
My colleague, Ruth, also shared a great book in this area of lament. Here is what she said in commending it:
Something that I have noticed when speaking with Christians when life is full of pain, is how quickly we try to move away from the hurt and focus instead on what we know to be true about God. This come from the sufferer themselves who finishes their sentence with ‘I feel awful, but I know that God is good, and I just need to keep trusting him’, or from the listener, ‘that’s so sad, but isn't it great that we have a God who knows, and who cares.’
God is most certainly those things, but what is also real is the pain.
In those conversations I always want us to go back and replace the word ‘but’ with ‘and’. ‘This is awful, and God is merciful’. Then we can sit with both of those truths for as long as we need, rather than jumping from the pain straight to God’s goodness.
This book, Dark Cloud, Deep Mercy, draws us into the rich bible teaching on lament. The author, Mark Vroegop, acknowledges that we are ‘uncomfortable with lament’, but encourages us to give ourselves, or the person we are with, permission to wrestle with sorrow, instead of fast-tracking to praise.
Vroegop knows what it is like to suffer, repeatedly, and has written this book out of love for people who know the unwelcome presence of pain. He invites us to rediscover the grace of lament as it is presented in the Psalms and the Book of Lamentations.
He says this:
Christians affirm that world is broken, God is powerful, and he will be faithful. And lament stands in this gap between pain and promise. To cry is human but to lament is Christian.
Lament is a path to praise as we are led through our brokenness and disappointment. The space between brokenness and God’s mercy is where this song is sung.
Vroegop indentifies the pattern followed by most biblical laments as God takes grieving people on a journey towards hope – it begins with an address to God, then follows a complaint, then a request, and ultimately an expression of trust or praise.
And this can be our pattern –
First, we turn to God and cry out to him
Then we give voice to our complaints, we tell him what hurts, we tell him if we are angry or upset, even - and especially - if we are upset with him
Then we ask boldly. We call on God to act in accordance with his character, to heal, to restore, to bring justice, to change how things are.
And finally, we may reach the bridge between our suffering and our praise and say, as in Psalm 13 ‘yet I have trusted in your steadfast love’.
Sometimes the ability to say ‘yet’ takes time; indeed as we have seen in Psalm 88, it is absent. But God is patient.
This book ends with the reminder that we live between two worlds. Believers in Jesus are called to walk the path between earthly brokenness and heavenly restoration. And lament is our song in the minor key for this journey.
This is such a good book. It is theologically sound, it speaks to the heart, it is beautifully written, and hard to put down. It will be of great encouragement if you are in the valley, but also good to read when you are not, because those times will come. But it is also a wonderful for helping us care well for each other as we slow down and learn to lament.
You could try ordering it directly here, if you missed the chance to order via Ruth.
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney