A LONGING IN MY SOUL

Dear Lord,

In the aftermath of Christmas celebrations, please tender my heart to the cradle and the cross. So often in this year I have sensed a deep longing in my soul, a loud yet silent lament for all that is not right. So often I have felt stymied and stagnant, incapable of doing the next thing or even knowing what that next thing should be.

The verse I have whispered in the quiet mornings (and shouted sometimes through tears) whispers again today: “Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go for to You I lift up my soul.” (Psalm 143:8)

And so, for today, in the in between of the cradle and the cross, I close my eyes and remember the sweetness of this season even as I long for the new year to bring the end of suffering.

Show me the way to go today, Lord. Just for today. For to You I lift up my soul.

Amen

-- Elizabeth Musser, from her blog www.elizabethmusser.wordpress.com/blog

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LAMENTATION IN A STRANGE LAND

“How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?”  (Psalm 137:4 KJV)

Depression is widespread, but troubles are universal. People have always suffered, still suffer, ill health and broken hearts, bereavement and betrayal, financial and vocational woes. Sometimes these troubles keep us from praying. Often they drive us to prayer.

Our personal or social difficulties may be dramatic or extreme -- life-threatening illness, becoming unemployed, victims of crime. But there are many other circumstances, some of them curses of the present age, that can reduce us to states of desolation: the sheer overload of the lives of working adults, particularly if they are also parents, the despair of youth, the isolation of our elders, or the social dislocation that leads to loneliness and lack of a primary community. Many of us find ourselves in a strange land both figuratively and literally...

The prayer of lamentation is a venerable tradition: we name the suffering and groan prayerfully (or not so prayerfully), inwardly or aloud, because that is all we can do at the time. Sometimes there is no naming, only a moan…

We find hope inside our tears; yet only inside our tears could we find hope. “Have hope in God; I will yet praise Him, my everpresent Help, my God.”  (Psalm 42:12)

-- Adapted from “When In Doubt, Sing: Prayer In Daily Life” by Jane Redmont

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LAMENT PSALM EIGHTEEN

O God, why have You left me in the wilderness
with no bread?
I hunger for Your righteousness;
I am starved for Your justice.
O God, feed me!
My soul is starving without Your nourishment.
I need You;
why have You left me in this desolate land?
Are You ashamed to be my God?
Will You no longer welcome me
into the city You are building for the faithful?
Is there no end to my loss?
Must I lose heart and now my soul?

Listen to me, O God:
My soul is shriveling within me.
It is hard and crusty and needs to be watered
with Your Holy Spirit.
My soul is numb with neglect.
Why are You ignoring me?
O God who counts the birds of the air,
have mercy on my soul.

Take away the bitter herbs
and bring me the bread of life
so that I might have the strength
to join those who gather together
to praise Your holy name.

My soul cries out to You;
my soul longs for You.
Remember me, Holy One,
for You are my Alpha and Omega.

-- Ann Weems in Psalms of Lament


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