INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNAL COMPLAINT PSALMS AND OUR PRAYERS Scriptures: Phil 4:6-7; Heb 4:16 Psalms: 4-7, 10-14, 16-17, 22-23, 25-28, 35-36, 38-39, 41-43, 51-59, 61-64, 69, 71, 73, 86, 88, 102, 109, 130. I. WHEN THE INDIVIDUAL HURTS THE PERSONAL COMPLAINT/LAMENT A. We observed in a previous lesson that prayer is a conversation with God. B. We have also been impressed with the fact that Israel approached God very boldly to express its desires and needs. C. We shall find out with the individual complaint psalms (IC) that all of this is especially intensified. D. This should not be surprising: 1. The I/Thou relationship is at its strongest. 2. It is the individual and God. 3. There is no audience. 4. It is a private conversation. E. We want to focus on these individual prayers and attempt to observe their major characteristics (cf. handout). II. AN EXAMPLE: PS 13. A. Opening & complaint (vs. 1-2). 1. The opening, "How long?" implies an interruption in the status quo, a dissatisfaction, and impatience, moves into the complaint proper. 2. The complaint is a fourfold question: How long? a. Will you forget me forever? 1
b. Will you hide your face from me? c. Must I wrestle with my thoughts? d. Will my enemy triumph over me? 3. The opening and complaint involve accusations toward God. B. The Petition (vs. 3-4). a. Very human and natural questions for a sufferer to ask. b. They are clearly divided into questions about God, self, and the enemy. c. They indicate genuineness about the relationship with God. 1. Is very specific, due to its connection with the complaint. 2. The petition asks explicitly that God fix the complaint: a. Will you forget me forever and will you hide your face from me vs. look on and answer me. b. Must I wrestle with my thoughts vs. give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death." c. Will my enemy triumph over me vs. the challenge my enemy will say, I have overcome him, and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 3. They are also quite bold, asking God to fix the situation or he will die (threat?). 4. The petition shows that human beings cannot always stand uniformly near to God. They experience that God is remote, and their calls to God mean that they want to come near to God again. C. Motivational clauses or certainty of hearing (vs. 5-6). 2
1. The person may be bargaining with God, saying, Regardless of what happens, I will praise you! a. Such would obligate God to answer the request. b. The background assumption for this is: I will tell God that I will praise him and therefore he will want to answer my prayer. c. Such is the nature of the motivational clause. 2. The person, like Hannah, may have heard a response in the middle of her prayer. a. The result is that the person is obligated to praise God. b. God has answered the prayer, he must be praised. c. Such is the nature of the certainty of hearing. III. PRACTICE IMPROVING YOUR PRAYER LIFE: DISCUSS ONE OR ANY OF PSALMS 3-7, 10-14, 16-17, 22-23, 25-28, 35-36, 38-39, 41-43, 51-59, 61-64, 69, 71, 73, 86, 88, 102, 109, 130 IN REGARD TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: A. Opening: 1. Can you think of an occasion when you asked the above, or a similar question? 2. How would you describe it? What were your inmost thoughts? B. Reflection: 1. What was the major threat to the individual in this particular psalm? 2. What did the individual particularly ask for in this psalm? 3. Did the individual accuse God, or hold him responsible in any way? 3
4. Did the individual bring any pressures on God, or bargain with him in any way, in an attempt to "force" him to deal with the situation? 5. How did the individual expect God to change the situation? 6. Did the person reflect with himself (talk to himself) about anything? C. Visualization: 1. Can this psalm, or any part of it, be used as a model for any concerns we may privately express to God? 2. How does this particular psalm differ from any of your private prayers to God in times of crisis? 3. Can you think of a time when you had similar feelings toward God about some problem? 4. Are such feelings acceptable to us? To God? D. Action: 1. Pray explicitly, boldly, and faithfully each day about a particular problem you are dealing with. Express exactly how you feel about it to God, knowing that because of Christ he understands. Look to see how your prayers were answered. 2. Keep a diary of your prayer life this week, or write down the prayers you pray. 3. At the end of the week read over your diary or prayers. List things you would: (a) ask for differently; (b) not ask for at all; (c) things for which God should be praised 4. Read and reflect on Phil 4:7-8 as you express yourself to God this week. 4
Scriptures: Phil 4:6-7; Heb 4:16 Psalms: 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, AND 89 IV. WHEN THE COMMUNITY HURTS---THE COMMUNAL COMPLAINT/LAMENT A. When a tragedy strikes the community two levels of suffering occur: individual; community 1. The community will focus on the problems affecting the community as a whole. 2. The individual may focus on his immediate problems. 3. Because of this communal suffering takes on broad dimensions. B. Communal prayer is different from personal prayer. 1. Communal prayer involves the whole community--individual prayer is "one-on-one with God." 2. Communal prayers are prayed more "diplomatically" than personal prayers. 3. Even so, the fact that there is "strength in numbers" means that communities will do heroic things in the face of tragedy. C. Even so, the communal lament psalms indicate a social reality and piety much different from ours. 1. Israel was "at home with lament"--we are not 2. Israel's CL psalms provide a background for understanding our social reality problems of worship style. a. I prefer old songs; they describe our responsibility to God for his care. 5
b. I prefer the new songs; they emphasize our spirituality and relationship with God. c. Both of these reflect not only: (1) different social realities and pieties from each other, but (2) but different social reality and piety from the psalms. d. E.g., When was the last time you attended a prayer meeting? V. PSALM 44: AN EXAMPLE OF COMMUNAL LAMENT PSALMS. A. God's past conduct, 1-8 1. God is reminded of what great things he has done for his people in the past a. The conquest of the land was due to God's grace. b. Israel has been righteous in repeating the story from generation to generation 2. Interspaced throughout the psalm are individual statements (solos?) which attempt to emphasize and strengthen this relationship, cf. 4, 6. 3. Because of this relationship (God's blessings and the faithfulness of the community) Israel will boast and praise God forever, 8. B. In stark contrast to God's past conduct is his present conduct, 9-16. 1. But now God has rejected them, 9 2. A detailed list of God's deeded against them: a. Turned them over to the enemy, 10-11 b. Sold the people for nothing, 12 c. Has made the community a disgrace before its neighbors, 13-14 6
d. Individually (solo?) or corporately the nation is shamed, 15-16 C. The reason for this is sought, though no admission of guilt is made, 17-22 1. There is no apparent reason for God's anger, 17-19 2. The community has not forgotten his name, 20 3. Nor does that make sense, since God would have known, 21 4. God does it for His sake--that is the only reason--it is unfathomable, 22 D. Exhortation for God to get busy and correct the situation, 23-26 1. Throughout the psalm boasts of the good old days when the community was closer to God is alternated with the sad condition of the present. a. These are very human and natural statements for the sufferer(s) to make b. They are clearly divided into questions about God, self, and the enemy. c. They indicate genuineness about the relationship to God. 2. All of these are put together in a structure which is designed to arouse God to change the present situation. a. Nowhere does the psalmist confess guilt or even hint at acknowledging wrong. b. The implication is that God has changed the relationship between himself and the community. c. The community is sure that it does not know why the relationship has changed. d. The community also knows that it has done nothing to bring this change. 7
e. All the community wants is the relationship restored. 3. Everything is focused on God in an attempt to create the necessary pressure to get him to change his mind. VI. PRACTICE IMPROVING YOUR PRAYER LIFE: DISCUSS ONE OR ANY OF PSALMS 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, AND 89 IN REGARD TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: A. Opening: 1. Can you think of an occasion when a community (church, family, etc.) responded to a tragedy with a prayer meeting? 2. If so, how would you describe it? If not, why do you think we do not meet in prayer meetings at such times? B. Reflection: 1. What was the major threat to the community in this particular psalm? 2. What did they particularly ask for in this psalm? 3. Did they accuse God, or hold him responsible in any way? 4. Did they bring any pressures on God, or bargain with him in any way, in an attempt to "force" him to deal with the situation? 5. How did they expect God to change the situation? C. Visualization: 1. How does this particular psalm differ from our public prayers to God in times of crisis? 2. Can this psalm, or any part of it, be used as a model for any concerns we may publicly express to God? 3. Can you think of a time when your "community" (family, or church) had similar feelings toward God about some problem? 8
4. Are such feelings acceptable to us? To God? D. Action: 1. Hold a prayer meeting in which you try to express thoughts similar to those in this psalm. a. Meet this week with close friends, or family, and have a prayer meeting about something that is of great concern to that group. b. Attempt to express yourself in a way similar to how the psalmist would. Remember that because of Christ we can boldly approach God. 2. Read and reflect on Phil 4:7-8 and Heb 4:16 as you express yourself to God this week. VII. PROBLEM: OUR SOCIAL REALITY AND PIETY AS EXEMPLIFIED IN OUR PRAYER LIFE RELATES MORE TO CALVIN THAN THE PSALMS. A. We have already observed several impressive things: 1. The psalmists approach to God represented a very bold social reality and piety 2. This social reality and piety (abb. SR&P) was quite different from that portrayed by either John Calvin or the Church today. 3. As a result of Calvin's influence many in the church have failed to venture into the areas of complaint and doubt. B. Part of this problem may be due to an occidental rather than an oriental mind set. 1. Our SR&P has trouble reconciling an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, God with one who: a. allows our prayers to change his mind b. does not act until we have prayed 9
c. and often seems far away. 2. Our SR&P has trouble looking for God's answers to our prayers when we often look upon such as something akin to the "direct operation of the Holy Spirit." C. In short, prayer as a conversation with God is frequently perceived as "one way communication" rather than "two way communication." D. An understanding of prayer as dialogue which characterizes both the individual praying and God's character goes a long way toward helping to clarify certain issues. VIII. PROBLEM: PRAYER THE DEPICTION OF CHARACTER & THE CHARACTERIZATION OF GOD. A. Prayer is a means of describing character: 1. As discourse between people and God prayer plays an important role in portraying both human and divine character. 2. What people say to God (in petitions and praise) reveal motives, attitudes, and morality. 3. Likewise ascriptions addressed to God in prayer (e.g., "loving," "just," "merciful," "sovereign") reveal assumptions about divine character and divine receptiveness to human concerns. B. Prayer as a means of confirming status. 1. Prophets, such as Jeremiah, and such holy men as Moses and Elijah have technical intercessory terms used of them which suggests that they were "intercessors par excellence." 2. Significantly there is no intercession in the Psalter, which means what? a. The individuals who wrote the Psalms were not of sufficient status to intercede for others? 10
b. The SR&P of the Psalter reflects that each individual should "do his own praying"? C. Prayer as a means of caricature. 1. Jacob's prayer in Gen 32:9-12 illustrates how a prayer may "function to caricature or parody." 2. Jacob's prayer, compared to his actions, illustrate that his prayer exhibits a humble and obedient piety, while his actions exhibit a piety that lives up to his name ("Jacob," "supplanter," "grasper," "exploiter.") 3. Cf. Jonah's actions with his prayers. D. Contrastingly, in the Psalter: 1. We have no such narrative which furnishes actions to compare with the prayers prayed 2. Even so, the piety revealed there seems "honest" in the communication of understanding, point of view, and feelings, whether or not these were true. E. The temple as a house of prayer. 1. Solomon's prayer in 1 Kgs 8:22-53 serve to confirm the temple as a place of prayer for Israel. 2. The very existence of the Psalter testifies that it was used somehow in worship, at the temple, and confirms, or hallows, in a special way that edifice. F. Prayer and the characterization of God 1. Prayers for divine intervention Hezekiah's (2 Kgs 19:15-19), Asa's and Jehoshaphat's (2 Chron 14:11; 20:1-5), and David's prayer (1 Chron 29:10-19) each exalt the sovereignty of God. 2. Prayers of penitence, represented by Ezra 9:6-15, Neh 1:5-11, 9:6-37, and Dan 9:4-19, point to a compassionate God. 11
G. Conclusions 1. People of status have greater responsibility for intercessory prayer than persons without status? 2. What people sometimes pray is not what they are? 3. While both the Old and New Testaments illustrate that people can pray anywhere, are there places more hallowed than others which are conducive to better prayers? Cf. Acts 16:13. What of the closet (Matt. 6:5ff) 4. Even with these situations, God is the only one to whom one can turn in prayer and he is a compassionate God, ready to listen and respond. 5. Here is where the crisis in piety is exhibited in the social reality of both the Psalter and our lives: 6. Prayers for divine justice, as illustrated by the book of Job, and lament prayers of the Old Testament, including the Psalter, all illustrate that the above assumptions sometimes do not seem to work in the real world. IX. PROBLEM: SOCIAL REALITY, PIETY, LAMENT, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THEODICY. A. Theodicy is: the question of Why is there suffering if there is an all wise and powerful God. 1. If not adequately explained, this problem can weaken and destroy faith in God. 2. We often attempt to explain this problem by (a) ignoring it or (b) saying we should not question an all powerful all knowing God. B. Laments which arise because of theodicy possess several characteristics, not all of which occur in each prayer. 1. Some do admit sinfulness as the reason for the trouble, but this is not the norm. 12
2. Others arise out of the belief that suffering is to some degree the vocation of God's elect, in which God hides so that he might save (Isa 45:15), wounds in order to heal (Isa 53:5) 3. Others admit that suffering may even be expected because "God is God" (cf. Job), perceiving that faith has both a place and a legitimate practice for questioning sufferers, since God's promise of presence is never withdrawn from those in pain; their practice is prayer to the God who promises always to hear. 4. Others arise out of a sense of powerlessness in which the plaintiff, who is an unequal partner with God, must be heard. 5. Others attempt to reconcile the existence of evil with the sovereignty of God. 6. Others recognize that they must "appeal to God against God." 7. The importance of lament as a vehicle of theodicy can be seen in the question: What would be the loss if prayer were not possible or effective and if the concerns of theodicy could not be addressed in prayer? 8. Such laments attempt to explain the unexplainable: a. They do this by promoting the understanding that "the maintenance of divine justice is the product of joint divine-human deliberations," b. In such joint deliberations the plaintiff does not engage in "selfsurrender or self-abnegation," but through dialogue becomes a "partner with God." 9. Seen this way, a. "Prayer implies and encourages dialogue, not monologue., i.e., b. The mutual participation of two partners in the deliberative process, not the domination of one over the other." 13
C. Lament perceived in this manner has both a positive and a negative side. 1. Positively, if lament is practiced: two parties must be involved in the decision-making process. a. The lesser of the two parties, though an unequal partner, is taken seriously. b. One can question the power of the greater party. c. God is available to question the petitioner and divine decisions can be reviewed. 2. Negatively, if lament is not practiced: a. Interaction between God and plaintiff is sacrificed--dialogue becomes monologue where God is the only speaker/actor. b. This promotes either passive silence on behalf of the human partner or pious, but often hollow, words of praise or thanksgiving. c. Such a relationship cannot survive the traumas of life, where hurt and pain will not permit a simple Yes or a manufactured Hallelujah. d. Denial of suffering occurs, which encourages further silence on the part of the would be plaintiff, reinforces the hurt of the hurting, and ultimately negates hope. D. In short, lament is the legitimate means by which one, approaches God and states his case in the hope and faith that he may change the mind of God. X. TAKE ACTION: A. Pray explicitly, boldly, and faithfully each day about a particular problem you are dealing with. Express exactly how you feel about it to God, knowing that because of Christ he understands. Look to see how your prayers were answered. B. Read and reflect on Phil 4:7-8 and Heb 4:16 as you express yourself to God 14