BROADCASTS.com

Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. \u2026 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. \u2026 Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies\u2014make your way straight before me. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. (Psalm 5:1-2,4,8-11)

\xa0

Psalm 5 explicitly introduces us to a new form of prayer: lament.\xa0 It\u2019s already showed up in the Psalter starting at Psalm 3, but Psalm 5 explicitly uses the word, and so today is a good time to remind ourselves about what it means to lament to God.

Often in the face of evil: whether it\u2019s come through events or people, we will opt to do something about it ourselves. \xa0Our fight or flight response is activated and so we\u2019ll strive to overcome the evil or perhaps seek to run away from it or ignore it.\xa0 But whichever response we use, it does not always occur to us to invoke God\u2019s name as part of our response.

The mindset of the Psalms and Psalmists is different.\xa0 In the face of evil and enemies, the first inclination of the Psalms is to come to God.\xa0 And as people of faith, this is a good inclination to embody in our own lives.\xa0 Lament helps us to do that by forming us in three core habits.\xa0 You may remember them from our sermon series on lament that had begun just before our first COVID lockdown.

Firstly, the prayer of lament takes God seriously, as here.\xa0 David declares God to be his God and also his King.\xa0 David believes in his God and King, and reminds God of who he is: a God who is not pleased with wickedness nor welcoming of wicked people.\xa0

Secondly, the prayer of lament takes the evil of this world seriously.\xa0 David has enemies and faces evil\u2014people who lie and betray trust.\xa0 But rather than taking matters into his own hands or fleeing away from the evil around him, David turns the situation over to God.\xa0 Taking God and evil seriously means that the presence of evil in this world is firstly God\u2019s problem and is a problem rightly submitted to God.\xa0 God has said that wickedness has no place in his kingdom: so David appeals to God\u2014\u201cdeclare them guilty, O God!\u201d\xa0

Finally, the prayer of lament is a prayer of submission to God.\xa0 We don\u2019t only turn the evil of our world over to God, but also ourselves.\xa0 We don\u2019t set ourselves up as a judge over God when we see evil in the world, instead we submit to him as the rightful ruler.\xa0 This finally is where the Psalm ends: \u201clet all who take refuge in you be glad.\u201d

So, when you feel pressed by fear, pain, enemies, or the overwhelming crush of evil in this world: do something about it.\xa0 Lament.\xa0 Take God and the evil you face seriously enough to pray, shout, and cry about it before God.\xa0 Then rest in submission to this God to whom you\u2019ve come for refuge.

\xa0