DAILY BYTE
Yesterday we started looking at the xenophobia crisis that is happening in our country. It is a painful thing to face up to the brutality, inhumanity and callous indifference that has been so evident in this situation. The sense of anguish and shame that this generates is real, and cannot be swept under the carpet. Nor should it be!
The clear witness of Israel’s faith is that in the face of crises and situations like this one, the outpouring of honest lament to God opens us up to something genuinely transformative. If you study the laments in the book of Psalms you will see over and over and over again a remarkable pattern repeating itself:
The lament usually starts with the psalmist addressing God. This small detail is significant. Who we call upon in times of trouble makes all the difference!
Next, the psalmist would describe the trouble or distress, or voice his/her complaint. There is nothing sugarcoated about what is expressed, just the brutal honesty of disillusionment, fear, betrayal and bitter disappointment. Often this brutal honesty is directed towards God. Whether this is justified, or fair, or even theologically accurate is besides the point. These are the anguished outpourings of human hearts struggling to make sense of life and the incomprehensible injustice that sometimes marks it so cruelly. And the obvious point that is underscored by the prolific presence of such laments in the bible, is that God welcomes this kind of honesty.
Many people wonder if this is in fact OK, because they make the mistake of thinking that that’s all there is to a lament – ranting and raging against God. But again and again the psalms of lament reveal something very different. For having described the trouble or distress, most commonly the lament then moves to a petition for God’s response, followed by a profession of trust and confidence in God’s goodness, and finally a promise to praise God.
Can you see the pattern? Something transformative happens when we bring our grief and the groanings of our hearts to God. Because the very act of crying out to God reminds us of who God really is, and can allow us to see our troubles in the wider light of who God is and what God is capable of doing.
I have seen this in this current xenophobia crisis. There is a group of about 40 people (men, women and children) from Burundi and the DRC who are being accommodated at our church. Every day at noon, we have a time of devotion and prayer. And every day there is this gutwrenching outpouring of anguish and pain as these precious people contemplate a precarious and uncertain future. And yet, if you listen carefully, there is an unmistakable note of hope, against all the odds, that can be heard in the choruses of petition and praise that they sing to God.
What a witness to us all, in whatever crises we may find ourselves. And what a powerful reminder of the transforming power of God that can be discovered in the dark places of life, not by denying the darkness but by bringing it into the glorious light of God.
PRAY AS YOU GO
All praise be to you O Lord, for your great mercy and compassion in drawing us to yourself. Thank you that before we can beat our fists against your chest, we must first enter the circle of your loving embrace. Thank you that your grace is truly sufficient for us and for our bruised and bleeding world. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 31:1, 10-11, 14, 21, 24
In you O Lord I seek refuge...
My life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of misery, and my bones waste away.
I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbours...
But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me...
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.
