Devotionals

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The book of Psalms is unique within the corpus of Holy Scripture. It contains some of the most beloved portion of the scripture. It is the most quoted. It is where we turn when we are looking for a proper way to express ourselves before God.
The book of Psalms is both the prayer book and the hymnal of ancient Israel. It has served as such for the Church as well. The protestant reformer, John Calvin believed that the only appropriate music for worship was the psalms. The words and themes of much of our modern worship music come from the psalms. There is perhaps no book in the bible that can speak so clearly to God's people in every event of their lives, as the Book of Psalms.
The Hebrew name for this book is Tehillim which means praise. In the Hebrew bible (Tanakh), Psalms is placed within the Writings or Ketuvim. It is the largest book in the Old Testament with 150 chapters or individual psalms. Tradition assigns the psalms to King David, but the titles to particular psalms also name Moses, Solomon, Ethan, Asaph, and the sons of Korah as authors. The psalms were composed individually from the Tenth through the Fourth Century BC. They were compiled in their present form by at least 200 BC.
There are five books or divisions to Psalms. Each division reflects on the history of Israel. The divisions are:
Book I - Davidic covenant (1-41)
Book II - Disorder leading to reign of Solomon (42-72)
Book III - Decline of Solomon's kingship and kingdom (73-89)
Book IV - Exile (back to the wilderness) (90-106)
Book V - God as King (107-150)

Each division ends with a doxology or expression of praise to God (41:13; 72:18,19; 89:52; 106:48; 150). Herman Gunkel identified three major classifications of psalms: hymns, lament and song of thanksgiving.
We are going to look most closely at Psalm 90, a psalm of lament. Psalm 90 is unique because it is the only psalm attributed to Moses. However, psalms of lament are not unique. Over one third of the psalms are in the classification of lament. Praise and lament are the two dominant forms of psalm.
The psalms were written for worship. The psalms show every range of human emotion and all of life's situations. They are not limited to the heights of human experience. They also go to the very depth of human life, including the final experience of death (Westermann 24).
Laments are perhaps the most emotionally charged of the psalms. They deal with those life situations that cause one the most pain and anguish. The general structure of a lament is a) invocation, b) complaint, c) confession of trust or review of God's previous activity, d) petition and in some but not all laments e) a divine Response and f) praise. This structure provides a framework to express the deepest of human emotion.
Lamenting is not common to our culture. Our culture values self-reliance, independence and success. We have little tolerance for those who express their weakness. We value the ability to think, act and speak of the positive. There is little room for any kind of emotion and certainly not a negative emotion. Our idea of winning friends comes from Dale Carnegie who proposes to never criticize, condemn or complain (Lapsley 129).
Psychology teaches us that there is power in expressing our feelings. One has only to look at such modern day phenomena as Oprah or Dr. Phil to see the power of human emotion. One of the great paradoxes of our day is that one is told to be strong and self-reliant while at the same time we are told to express our emotions. Is there any place for the ancient form of lament within this strange mix?
Since Elisabeth Kubler-Ross identified the stages of grief, we have taken a scientific approach to understanding grief. We catalog it, understand it, and speak of it in abstract terms. In most of our sanitized churches, lamenting is absent. The more progressive churches offer "grief share" and "divorce care" groups to transition out of these painful experiences. Within these groups, the emphasis is to moving on and out of the experience. There is little place for experiencing the pain of the moment. The goal is to get to the end stage of acceptance.
These groups are extensions of the church and have their place but within the main worship experiences, there is no room for powerful human expression. Taking the admonition that everything "be done decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40), our human-ness is excluded and lament is absent from within the worship experience.
Brueggemann refers to the laments as psalms of disorientation. He correctly asserts that in our evangelical churches, we have little room for disorientation. We assert the supremacy of "faith speech." In spite of the disorientation we experience and see all around us, the church is numb and in denial. He maintains that the "church does not want to acknowledge or experience the disorientation of life" (Brueggemann 25-26).
Several years ago, I saw an example of the power of lament in a small predominantly African American church. I was there to pray the prayer of dedication over the church, its pastor and its ministry. In the process, I also was asked to lead the congregation through the parts of the service. A sister arose to sing. Expecting a popular arrangement of a current worship song complete with professional background accompaniment, she arose to sing alone, with no accompaniment. Mid-point in her free flow expression of praise she began to moan. There were no words, just a deep moan coming from inside the soul. I realized I was hearing the purest form of lament. I realized I was hearing a sound birthed on the slave ship or in the "master's" field.
The main speaker came to the pulpit a few minutes later and said "Sister, do that again. For when you moan, the devil doesn't know what your saying." Sister sat in her seat and repeated her moan. I thought of Romans 8:26:
In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.

Within the Psalter, we find communal laments, times when the community lamented together. The book of Lamentations includes mostly communal laments as well as other examples throughout the Old Testament (Westermann 29). Lamenting was not only a private experience. America's experience with 9-11 is perhaps the closest we can come to understanding a time of communal or national lament.
Just as the moan was birthed in the depths of the slavery experience, so the communal cry of lament began in the wilderness experience (Westermann 30). However, I would argue that lamenting has never been absent from the human experience. Are we to believe that Adam did not lament over the death of his son Abel in Genesis 4? The grief of Adam and Eve is not recorded but we do know that the ground cried out (tsaw-ak') because of the blood of Abel. The word for crying out implies a cry for help or a cry of distress. God heard the lament of the ground over the first murder.
It was the groaning or lamenting of the Israelites that caused God to remember His covenant with Abraham and his descendents (Exodus 2:24). It was this lament that caused God to call Moses from the tents of Jethro and to set in motion the deliverance of Israel from bondage. Lamenting began long before the wilderness experience and its power causes God to pay attention.
If the bible is a guidebook for living, what can the laments, and in particular Psalm 90, ascribed to Moses, teach us. Scripture tells us that Moses was a friend of God. In Exodus 33:11 we read: Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Further the scripture records: No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (Deuteronomy 34:10). What are the characteristics of Moses' friendship with God?
As with human friendship, the ability to lament to and with someone both solidifies and strengthens a friendship. A friend is someone with whom you can be totally honest and transparent. Even though the friend may know how deep the pain you are experiencing is, they are still able to sit with you so you can give voice to your pain. They do not say: "be quiet, I know." They let you wail and moan so you can release the emotions inside of you. They let you complain about your situation, never telling you that you should not do so. Sometimes as you lament, their response is simply "presence."
Lamenting is not only an expression of grief. It has the characteristic of complaint. A friend that you thoroughly trust is to whom you can complain or confront directly when they have let you down, disappointed you or not kept their word. Through the example of Moses, we will see that all of these things characterize a true friendship with God.
In their first open dialogue at the burning bush, Moses hid his face. However, even in this first encounter we see a remarkable candor. Moses even protests to God that he is the wrong person for the job. After God assures him, he questions who God is, what is His name? The dialogue between them was a give and take. To some extent it could be said to "push the envelope" (Lapsley 122). Surely, we can argue that Moses was obedient to God but it was not without challenge or protest.
On the surface, it may seem that Moses is adversarial with God. However, we see the same bargaining with God in Abraham, also called a friend of God (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23). Abraham bargains with God over the fate of Sodom (Genesis 18:22-33). Conversations between God and Abraham are open. Abraham does not simply listen nor does he always talk. Between the two friends, there is an open exchange. There is reciprocity in their relationship (Lapsley 121).
Both Abraham and Moses talk in a direct manner to God, even raising questions or objections to Him. They both will press past God's first answer to offer further objections. Listening to God and responding characterize friendship with God. This response is not always obedience without objection. It is an open and honest exchange of views and concerns. Lapsley reminds us "asking pertinent questions that risk impertinence is a sign of genuine friendship" (Lapsley 122). In true friendship, a friend can share all they are thinking and feeling without fear (Bondi 100).
As the friendship between God and Moses matured, we see Moses becoming bolder in his trust of YHWH. After the golden calf incident, God tells Moses "let me alone so that ... I may consume them" (the people) (Exodus 32:10). Moses counters in almost an argumentative fashion by asking God pointed questions. He reasons about the effects to God's reputation with the Egyptians (32:11-12) and recalls God's promises (32:13). Moses pleads the case of the people so well that God changes His mind (32:24). It could be said that Moses is holding God accountable for His action. A characteristic of a strong friendship is this ability to hold each other accountable (Bondi 100).
Friendship is sharing the same deep desires (Bondi 100). Moses and God not only had a reciprocal relationship but they had the same desires. Moses knows that it is God's desire to bring honor to His name. Moses knows that God has made a covenant with Israel. When God determines to destroy Israel, Moses counters with a request to be "blotted out" as well (32:31-32). Moses knows the heart of God is for His people and intercedes on behalf of the people. Moses knows the desire of God because they have developed a deep friendship.
In the Mosaic psalm of lament, we hear him mention the power of God's anger and wrath (90:11). Perhaps Moses was thinking of the anger and wrath God displayed against Israel after making the golden calf. In similar fashion to his argument and pleadings with God that day, Moses says: Lord, how long? Turn and have compassion on Your servants (90:13). The Hebrew word for turning in this psalm is nakham, which means to be sorry, repent, or regret. This same Hebrew word is used in Exodus 32:12 as Moses pleads for God to turn from His wrath and nakham. Moreover, we see that God does turn and nakham in 32:14.
The relationship between Moses and God is consistent. They spend time with each other. The scriptures tell us that Moses used to make a tent, go into it, and speak with God (Exodus 33:7-11). The implication is that this was a recurring pattern of behavior. Moses regularly spent time with God. This time spent together also implies a deep intimacy (Lapsley 118). This was not an acquaintanceship nor was it a relationship of servanthood alone. Theirs was a relationship of deep intimacy that is reminiscent of Jesus calling His servants, friends (John 15:13-15).
I have already stated that the book of Psalms is charged with emotion and that the laments are the most powerful. Emotion is an element of friendship. Emotion is evident in the relationship between Moses and God. Moses expresses what Lapsley calls a "full palette" of emotion in his relationship with God. Citing Moses' plea for a revelation of glory in Exodus 33:12-23, she maintains that request to know God is in an "emotional tone of the highest intensity" (Lapsley 124).
Moses is able to tell God exactly how he feels. Even early in their friendship, when the oppression of the people increases after his return to Egypt, he complains to God saying: Why did you ever send me? (Exodus 5:22). The anger in this complaint against God is similar to the language of the lament psalms (Lapsley 125).
Moses and God, like two close friends, share every range of emotion. There is a variety and even a depth to their expression of feelings. God is angry, God is compassionate, God loves, and God is faithful. God expresses emotion and likewise so does Moses.
However, these "negative" emotions do not weaken Moses' relationship with God. Nor are these emotions a sign of a weakened love for God. As with human friendships, the survival of these tensions solidifies the love and trust between friends. The full range of emotion between God and Moses is part of the divine friendship. This interplay should not be minimized. The friendship is made possible by this freedom, candor and honesty (Lapsley 125). Ultimately, it was this lack of relationship and friendship that led Israel to abandon God and turn to gods that were perceived as more "tangible" (Lapsley 129).
What makes this intimacy unique is in the friendship between God and Moses, God is the superior partner. This is not a friendship among equals. As the people of God, we must also remember that we cannot approach God as an equal. Although it is possible to be a friend of God, we must never trivialize who God is. He is the superior partner. However, without honesty and the expression of emotion, including "negative" emotion, there can be no intimacy. Without intimacy, there can be no relationship.
Much is said about a servant mentality; however, Jesus called us to be friends as well. In the story of Israel we see that it is when the "love is lost" or the relationship is gone between God and His people, that obedience suffers. Lapsley expresses it:
Obedience and feelings are interdependent; obedience follows feelings and feeling follows obedience in an endless circuit of faithfulness. It takes a friendship to make that faithfulness a reality over the long term. (Lapsley 127)
Through the details of Moses' life, we see a pattern of friendship with God. Moses approached God from the vantage point of freedom. Even as their deliverance was declared through Moses, the Israelites were unable to shama (listen, obey) because of "their broken spirit and cruel slavery" (Exodus 6:9). Moses however, had challenged God. He had questioned Him at the burning bush. This enabled him to be free to listen and obey God.
It is this same characteristic of freedom that we see in Psalm 90. Moses declares God's greatness (v. 2). He recognizes that He is the superior partner and has control of everything. Moses would seem to be pessimistic in his assessment of life, a life that includes the disorientation of death (v. 3-12).
However, as on that day on Sinai, Moses reminds God to nakham (v. 13). This would be likened to our saying to God: "enough is enough, now stop." It is only in a freedom and trust of a God with whom we are intimate, and who loves us completely, that we would dare to speak in such a fashion.
Moses continues with asking God to remember His love for His people. He asks that this love satisfy daily. He asks God for joy and gladness. He presses God for a balance of the years we are troubled and afflicted with years of gladness (v. 14-15).
Moses concludes by asking his friend for favor, for no'am meaning kindness, pleasantness, or beauty. The word no'am is also found in Psalm 27:4. It is the "one thing" desired of the Lord, to behold His no'am or beauty. Those frequent trips to the Tent of Meeting, those times of talking face to face as with a friend, revealed to Moses the no'am of the Lord.
Psalm 90 begins the division or book within Psalms about exile. It starts the section characterized by the return to wilderness. I sense the significance of this is that it is in the wilderness times of our life, or as Brueggemann calls them, the times of disorientation, that we learn who God is, that He is a friend, that friendship with Him is possible. We learn that He can be trusted. We also learn that we can give voice to our pain, sorrow and disillusionment. We realize that we can question God and cry for vindication, for deliverance and even for vengeance. As a friend with a friend, we can meet God face to face in our wilderness times.
A few years ago after meeting Dr. Wayne Ewing, I read his wonderful small book, Tears in God's Bottle. At age 55, Ewing's wife was stricken with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Ewing and his wife had been childhood sweethearts. They had experienced a full life together that was now being cut short. Through narrative and scripture, Ewing tells of his journey of lament.
Ewing experiences the depths of Psalm 88, the only Psalm that does not offer any hope. He too asks if God's help is known in the land of forgetfulness, of Sheol. In his own bleakness, as with the bleakness of this psalm, he realizes that the message of the psalm is that the pain must be given over to God. He writes:
In time, my pain, as well, was given over to God. As the light of this message shone on my darkness of soul, I discovered I was asked to be real with myself, to be honest with my pain over loss and separation, and to lay out even my most terrifying moments before God's great passion. Now, alone no longer, I welcome the company of the psalmist, who laments with me. (Ewing 50)
Ultimately, Ewing experiences holy week. As an Episcopal priest, he goes through the responsibilities and rituals of this pinnacle of the Christian calendar. However, more importantly Ewing lives the grief and separation of Gethsemane. In addition, like Jesus' cry on the cross, Ewing cries why have you forsaken me? Through lamenting, Ewing is able to empty himself (Philippians 2:7) and like Moses experience the glory of God (Ewing 92).
Ewing's story is a lament of our time. It deals with an all too common disorientation, the disorientation of Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's not only cause the one afflicted to be disoriented but also everyone in the family and community experience disorientation along with them. In most cases, the family member suffers the greatest disorientation. It was through learning the power of lament that Ewing not only survived but also went on to what Brueggemann calls "new orientation" (Brueggemann 46).
The life without his beloved Ann is hard, but Ewing has learned that God can be trusted, that God is in the disorientation as well as the orientation. Most importantly, he forged an honest friendship with God. Near the end of his journey, he realizes that he wished he had been introduced to the divine in a less harsh way. However, he knows that through experiencing and fully embrace lament, he had found the way to God (Ewing 92).
Lamenting is largely absent from our churches. Even in the Christmas season, we rush over the passage of Rachel lamenting for her children. We know of Mary's song of praise to God, we know of the praises of the angels that night. However, shortly after, we should also hear the cry of Rachel, weeping for her children. Praise and lament go hand in hand. There is an imbalance in our worship. Mary's rejoicing is not balanced with Rachel's cry (Ramsay 112).
The New Testament teaches us to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). Our lament is not limited to our individual lament. It should be an expression of God's people in community. The absence of lament in worship discourages healing (Ramsay 112). It inhibits the hope of "turning mourning into joy" (Jeremiah 31:13) or that our "pain will turn into joy" (John 16:20).
The book of Psalms is a mirror of our lives of orientation, disorientation and finally a new orientation. We see this balance through the rejoicing of Mary and the cries of Rachel. We see this balance in the life of Moses. We see it most completely in the life of Jesus. We experience orientation, disorientation and new orientation as we move through our own lives. I contend that until we learn to really lament, we will never move to new orientation. We will never move to the place of friendship with God.
There is little balance between praise and lament in our churches. In my religious tradition the old timers referred to something called "praying through." They knew peace had come when they had "prayed through." After lamenting and after contending with God, they knew He was there. We have lost the ability to lament and "pray through" a problem, trial, disease, affliction or malady. We have no place in our churches for this type of activity.
We need to learn from the Sister at the African American church how to moan. We need to give voice to our pain and realize it can be given to God. Like Israel, we search after more "tangible gods" and forget that God has established a covenant relationship with His church and that He promised never to leave them.
Perhaps it is time for the church to rediscover friendship with God. Perhaps the words of the old song, What a Friend We Have in Jesus should be dusted off and re-embraced. The song reminds us that we miss friendship with God by experiencing our pain alone. It is time to not only sing the song but also rediscover its truth:
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief's to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He'll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.
Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.
Works Cited
Bondi, Roberta. "Prayer in Friendship with God" Christian Century 114.4 (1997) 99-101.

Brueggemann, Walter. Spirituality of the Psalms. Minneapolis Minnesota: Fortress Press 2002.

Ewing, Patrick. Tears in God's Bottle: Reflections on Alzheimer's Caregiving. Tucson Arizona: WhiteStone Circle Press 1999.

Lapsley, Jacqueline E. "Friends with God? Moses and the Possibility of Covenantal Friendship" Interpretation 58.02 (April 2004) 117-129.

Ramsay, Nancy. Rev. Rachel's Cry: Prayer of Lament and Rebirth of Hope by Kathleen D. Billman and Daniel L. Migliore. Journal of Pastoral Theology 10.1 (2000): 112-114.

Westermann, Claus. The Psalms: Structure, Content and Message. Minneapolis Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House 1980.




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