By: Steve Loo
“One out of three psalms is in a minor key.”
This one line by Mark Vroegop in his book, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, blew me away. I’ve read through the Bible 9 times, read the Psalms constantly, and yet I’ve never realized that lament is the largest category in the entire Psalter!
Lament is the path between heartbreak and hope. As Vroegop defines lament, “lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust.” And as I began to read Scripture, laments just started to leap off the page. It was almost like getting a new eyeglass prescription. Once you put those lenses on, everything seems brighter and clearer.
Not only laments jumped out at me, but also the four key elements that typically comprise a lament: (1) an address to God, (2) a complaint, (3) a request, and (4) an expression of trust. Vroegop summarizes it to four words: turn, complain, ask, and trust. As I committed to working through a Psalm of lament once a month, I began marking up my Bible with these elements. For example, the Psalmist turns to God and also uses the same breath to complain (you often see turn and complain together) in Psalm 13:
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (vv. 1-2)
After pouring out his complaint to God in a blunt and straightforward manner, yet keeping appropriate respect, he asks God to act:
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death… (v. 3)
Finally, he ends with a commitment to trust. This is usually signified by a conjunction: and, yet, but. The Psalmist complains how long will God forget him, followed by asking God to arise, “But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” (vv. 5-6)
The more I saw turn, complain, ask, and trust in the Psalms, the more I was able to see that the minor key was more prevalent than I thought.
As lament leapt off the pages, I sensed my love for God had increased. I know that in my pain, that God doesn’t stand and scoff or hide himself from me, but there are many days it feels like he is. And being able to complain has given me biblical language to say, “God, I’m trusting that You are sovereign and good, but it doesn’t feel like it today.” It’s deepened my desire to honestly offer up godly complaint to Him, knowing that our laments should bring us to worship. And to unbridled trust.