ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THIS STRANGE AND SACRED SCRIPTURE

Chapter 10

Drowning in Tears and Raging at God
Discussion Questions
How do you typically pray when under stress?
  • Short pleas: “God help me!”
  • Bargaining: “God, if you get me out of this, I promise I’ll…”
  • Long prayers you make up yourself.
  • Memorized prayers: “Our Father, who art in heaven…”
  • Uplifting prayers in the Bible: “You are my refuge, my stronghold.”
  • Prayers of complaint and lament in the Bible: “How long, O Lord?”

This chapter suggests that Christians need to use the Bible’s brutally honest prayers so their faith can withstand crisis.  What would be the best way for churches to use these prayers?
  • In Sunday worship
  • In worship on special occasions (like Good Friday or when tragedy hits a congregation)
  • In small groups or educational meetings
  • Other: __________

Re-read Psalm 13, making it your own (see below).  After the second, fourth, and sixth verses, add your own words that relate directly to what you’re facing.  You may want to fill in the blanks below.  When I tried this exercise with my class, for example, one of my students filled the first blank by saying, “How long must I live with the pain of divorce?”

1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?   2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 

How long _______________________?

3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. 

Lord, move to action by _____________!

5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (NRSV)

I will trust in the LORD because ______. 
Above: Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi's Inconsolable Grief


A Quote to Contemplate
“God is not the God of the sufferers but the God who suffers.  The pain and fallenness of humanity have entered into his heart.  Through the prism of my tears I have seen a suffering God.  It is said of God that no one can behold his face and live.  I always thought this meant that no one could see his splendor and live.  A friend said perhaps it meant that no one could see his sorrow and live.  Or perhaps his sorrow is his splendor.” (Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament for a Son [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987], 81)


Another Resource
Waltke, Bruce K., James M. Houston, and Erika Moore. The Psalms as Christian Lament: A Historical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014. (Amazon)
  • On the one hand, this book relates to our times by focusing on lament in our society.  On the other hand, it also focuses on the Bible, examining how it has been interpreted throughout history.  The end result is an assortment of riches for those wanting to analyze the laments psalms in greater depth.
Next Chapter
Click here for a companion to Chapter 11.