The Book of Psalms was the hymnal of Israel. These songs were corporate expressions of the people as they collectively went before God. In them we find a host of virtues and the practical endorsement of making beautiful what we offer up to heaven. And lament, we also find lament. It is individually and collectively expressed and happens multiple times. We see Paul and Jesus, two of the Jews we are most encouraged to imitate, sorrowing unto death and so troubled in prayer that sweat poured out like blood. Does this fit with the occasional tendency in among Christians to only express the positive and appear happy?
Even if there was not an ethos discouraging discouraging-expressions, we do not need to leave the Bible for a seeming conflict. We are told to ‘rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice;’ we are even to ‘count it all joy when you go through various trials.’ How can God inspire Psalmists to lament and apostles to encourage unending rejoicing?
No really, stop reading for a moment and think about this. Does that seem at all odd? How can the hymnal contain Psalms which cry in agony with no mention of hope and only the feeling of abandonment? How can this be one of the ways that we can worship Him? AND is the Bible telling us to rejoice always (and never lament) or to do them simultaneously at times? Wrestle with that for a minute... or the rest of the day.
Write out your response and, if you find yourself using a cliche, explain it like the journal is unfamiliar with the phrase. Oh and, just to free you up, you don’t have to have an answer and it doesn’t have to be the right one. You can still be a Christian, promise.
See you tomorrow.
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