I have two more sermons to preach in the summer Psalm series. I have preached on several types of Psalms; so far I’ve done a Torah (God’s Word) Psalm, and Psalms of Trust, Repentance and Wisdom. This coming Sunday I’ll preach on a Lament Psalm, and I’ll close the series with a Psalm of Thanksgiving.

I planned the series without picking specific Psalms in advance, just the types of Psalms. So now as the week begins, I need to choose a Lament to preach on.

Lament is another way of saying “complaint.” We discourage complaining and whining, and yet most of the Psalms are complaints. Were the authors of the laments just wimps – adult babies? Why couldn’t they just suck it up and have faith?

I had never thought of Jesus the complaining type; I wonder how we Christ-followers might use these holy hebrew complaints.

you know you’re lamenting like David if…

• Address – You are not just generally complaining; you address  your lament to God something like this “O Lord”
• Complaint – You have a real complaint and you tell God about your misery.  The main kinds of misery in laments are: enemies, death, confinement, and drowning.
• Trust – In the midst of misery your faith wells up and you express your trust based on God’s track record of deliverance.
• Deliverance Plea – You cry out for help – for God to save you from your miserable situation.
• Assurance – You declare that God will save you because He is kind and good.
• Praise – You praise God for some aspect of his character.

The above is based on Doug Stuart’s ACTDAP lament outline.

I found this blog from a Connecticut pastor helpful on the laments.

Bono writes telling how the Psalms have impacted his life and art.