There are times in our lives when we
feel as though we are drowning. We are
in the midst of a great storm just like the storms that have ravaged the
southeast this week. Our storms though
are emotional and many times they are created by humanity. Our anger rages inside of us. We find ourselves angry with humanity and
sometimes even angry with God. We wonder
where God is. Hopefully it doesn’t take
long for us to look back on the other storms of our lives and realize that God
is right where God always is; with us.
What do we do with these emotions?
The Psalmist of Psalm 69 gives us a clue.
The Psalmist knows that it is
important to take these emotions to God with honesty. God can handle it. Listen to the lines of the first four verses:
Save me, God,
because the waters have reached my neck!
I have sunk into deep mud. My
feet can’t touch the bottom! I have
entered deep water; the flood has swept me up.
I am tired of crying. My throat
is hoarse. My eyes are exhausted with
waiting for my God. (CEB)
Wow! Haven’t you felt like that before? Did you dare to go to God and tell God the innermost
groaning of your heart? You can. The Psalmist then goes through the next 8
verses telling God just what those he is angry at have done to him. He then prays for God to save him from this
condition of drowning that he feels. He
tells God how these “attacks” have made him feel.
What he does next might surprise you
as much as him being honest about his feelings toward God. He asks God to curse the enemies. He is very specific in what he would like for
those curses to be. These are called
Psalms of Imprecation. They remind me of
the country song Pray for You by Jaron and the Long Road to Love. When I first heard this song I thought it to
be quite sacrilegious. However, when I
read Psalms such as this, I realize there is a place for these kind of honest
and raw prayers. God knows our hearts,
why not voluntarily share our heart with God and let God transform us and make
us whole.
After imploring God to bring curses
on the enemy, the psalmist then recognizes his own condition of pain and
affliction and cries out for God to save him and keep him safe. The psalmist knows the dangers of what he is
feeling toward those who have hurt him and he recognizes that God is the only
source of healing and protection from that kind of rage.
The psalmist then comes full circle
to praise for God! He gives the reader
advice to “Let the afflicted see and be glad!
You who seek God-let your hearts beat strong again because the Lord
listens to the needy and doesn’t despise his captives.” (Vs. 32-33)
The psalmist turns at the end away
from individual praise to praise with and for the community for ultimately we
all belong to community and it is in community that we seek and find God at
work and active!
My challenge for you today is to sit
down with a piece of paper and following the outline of Psalm 69, write your
own Psalm of Imprecation. Be real with
God. God is real with you.
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