Lament

             Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. (Psalm 3)

We have finished the wisdom psalms, and the next category is lament psalms; specifically, personal lament psalms. Yesterday, I listened to a Become New podcast in which John Ortberg read someone’s discussion of two terms that will be useful for these psalms. The first word was grumble, which he described as being angry words about someone or something. The Israelites grumbled about God. The second word is graoned, which he described as an angry or pained expression toward someone or something. Since David is singing this song to God, he is groaning, not grumbling, and God doesn’t seem to deal well with grumbling, but He does respond to groaning.  It must also be noted that lament psalms tend to begin with someone voicing a complaint to God, generally about God, but even if the situation doesn’t change, his/her attitude does.

What intrigues me about this psalm is the superscription. It is a psalm written by David while he was hiding from his son, Absalom. David requested that his soldiers be gentle with Absalom. When he found out someone had killed his son, he had the killer put to death. In fact, he had the runner who announced Absalom’s death to David put to death because he claimed to be responsible. It seems odd to me that David would call on God to strike his enemies and put them to death while punishing someone for killing Absalom. Odd, that is, unless he considered others to be manipulating Absalom. In that case, his call to God for justice might not include Absalom. Another possibility is that David seemed to have the opinion that God should judge and bring vengeance. This may be so, because He doesn’t ask God to show mercy to Absalom, or to be gentle.

This is something we should consider as we bring our lamentation to God. Who are the enemies about whom we lament? Our families and friends can be staunch enemies, but is it personal? Do they really want to destroy you, or you them, or is the problem an error on someone’s part? Or someone is manipulating the situation?

Most of the psalm deals with David singing about the goodness of the Lord, and that deliverance and blessing come from the Lord. He asks for a blessing for the people, not for himself. Because of God, he can cope. In a sense, he may be asking that God judge between His people and both David and Absalom, with what is beneficial to the people being more important than what he wants.