08/26/2026
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Please listen to my voice. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
–Psalm 130:1-2, 7
I will admit that I do not read the Psalms regularly. I find the rhythms and meter of their poetic verse challenging and some of the language antiquated, if not foreign. But there are times when the honest, even raw, emotion of the Psalmist pierces through all that is challenging or foreign and gives me language I simply would not have otherwise. This is one of those times.
Tomorrow marks one year since the shooting at Annunciation Church & School that took the lives of two children and wounded twenty-four more. One of the slain children, Fletcher Merkel, was a member of Mount Olivet and had recently returned from Cathedral of the Pines Camp. And so I have been reading the Psalms of late, particularly what are known as “lament psalms,” verses written to share discouragement, fear, grief, or disappointment. Jesus recited the opening of a lament psalm – Psalm 22 – from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Words that may very well have captured the feelings of the parents and relatives of these children.
Psalms of lament are powerful because they truthfully name what is painful. “Out of the depths I cry to you” (Psalm 130:1), “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am suffering,” (Psalm 6:2) and “Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1) are among the phrases that have resonated with me in the days since August 27. Strikingly, lament psalms almost always end on a note of renewed confidence, trust, and hope. The wisdom of these psalms is to recognize that, most often, hope and healing are only possible if we first honestly name what is painful.
Even then, however, the journey takes time. Which is why one of the most frequent phrases in lament psalms is, “how long?” “How long, O Lord. How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul? How long shall my oppressors be exalted over me?” (Psalm 13:1-2) How long? It’s a question we all ask, especially when at the low point of our struggles. And it’s a question with an uncertain answer, or at least different answers for different people at different times. Eventually this Psalmist will describe being able to sing a new song, but not before voicing distress at what feels like God’s slowness to respond.
Which means that, for the Psalmist and for us, our confidence doesn’t come from external factors – sometimes things don’t get better quickly – but rather our confidence is rooted in the character of God. For ultimately, these psalms of lament promise God will answer. God will renew. God will save. God will heal. And so the Psalmist who began by crying out of the depths concludes, if not with a sense of victory, at least with a sense of hope: “with the Lord there is steadfast love and with him is great power to redeem: (Psalm 130:7).
Wherever you may be in your journey of grief and healing, whether from the events of a year ago or some other hurt in your life, do not be afraid to voice your lament. It has been the faithful response of God’s people for millennia. And then wait in hope, confident that God’s love and acceptance will carry you until that time when you, too, can sing a new song.
Dear God, give us courage to share our hardest and most painful feelings with you, confident that you will receive them in love, travel with us through our sorrow, and grant us healing in due time. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
–Pastor Lose
