May 23, 2021
MESSAGE - JEFF DENTON
"Psalms of Lament"
I. Lament Psalms - "Calling out to God from our distress, fear or sorrow".
* There are both (a) Individual Laments and (b) Community/National Laments.
**See Bonus Notes below for a listing of some examples throughout the Psalms of Laments.
II. Typical Structure of Most Laments
a. Introductory cry to God
b. The Lament: Explaining how bad your situation is, what caused the problem, what you fear may happen, or even describing what God has or has not done.
c. Confession of Trust in God
d. Petition - Request for God to take action.
e. Vow of Praise / Expression of Faith
III. Psalm 3
* Discover the part of the structure in this Psalm of Lament.
IV. Psalm 13
V. Reasons Laments should be part of our worship today.
(1) A Psalm of Lament gives you permission to worship from an imperfect life. This can be a more sincere worship than trying to pretend everything is perfect.
(2) Crying out to God is not a mistrust of Him; but rather letting His know we trust that He can handle our worst experiences.
VI. We can approach the throne of Grace with Confidence.
- Hebrews 4:15-16
BONUS NOTES:
SAMPLES OF LAMENTS PSALMS
These are good to use in your private devotions and prayers when seeking words to put to your distress, fear, doubts or anger.
The list of some INDIVIDUAL LAMENT Psalms:
3, 4, 5, 7, 9-10, 13, 14, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27*, 28, 31, 36*, 39, 40:12-17, 41, 42-43, 52*, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 61, 64, 70, 71, 77, 86, 89*, 120, 139, 141, 142
*More than one categorization.
List of NATIONAL / COMMUNITY Laments:
12, 44, 58, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, 89*, 90, 94, 123, 126, 129