Lament: Call to God
Notes
Transcript
Hi Everyone! I want to start by turning everyone’s attention to the first six verses of Psalm 77.
Hi Everyone! I want to start by turning everyone’s attention to the first six verses of Psalm 77.
I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
The first movement in Lamenting is to Call out to God. Calling out to God asserts two things that we have to recognize. 1st: it assumes a belief that God is sovereign and powerful enough to effect change in our circumstances. And 2nd, it affirms a deep longing for change, fueled by anguish or sorrow about something happening in our lives or in the world. So tonight let us as the local Church cry out together to God for healing and hope in our country and our world.
Father God we cry out to you this evening because we are hurting. Some of us are hurting because of the pain we feel after watching and hearing about the unnecessary death of George Floyd, a man made in your image. Some of us are hurting because of the rift we are seeing between people on different sides of the fence when it comes to protesting and riots. Some of us are hurting because we have personally seen or been affected by racism in our very own communities. But God, we ultimately cry out to you because you are Sovereign. You rule over the heavens and the earth with an authority that is unshakeable, and your kingdom is everlasting. Because of this… We know that you are the only one who has the power to affect change in our world. It is by your hand, and your hand alone that justice will be served, that grace will be given, and that love and peace for fellow man will fill our hearts. You are the God who raises up kings, and you lay them low.
It was your hand that moved the Persian King Cyrus to allow the Israelites to return home and rebuild according to your promises. It was you who Hardened the heart of Pharaoh to make your name great as you free’d your people from captivity. It was you who turned Paul from a life of persecuting your people to a life lived in service to your son. And it was by your hand that so many great leaders like Dr. King were raised up in the Civil Rights movement that led to the first Civil Rights bills being passed since reconstruction. And it will be by your hand that the movement will continue until you have completed the work.
God we now cry to you with the same fervor of the psalmist who stretched out his hand to you all through the night, and all during the days of his trouble. We cry to you because we acknowledge that it is only by your hand that change will come. God may we no longer be silent. Let us turn away from the racism that grips so many of our hearts. Let us turn away from the ways in which we justify turning our backs on our brothers and sisters of color in their times of need. Hear our cry, Oh Lord, and turn us to you. Father, King Asaph was able to remember the times of old, and prayed for those times to be restored, but we do not have that same privilege, for our past is one of systematic oppression, and often the “good days” we remember in America are ones where the privileges of the white man went unchecked while the struggles of people of color were squashed and silenced. God we call now to you, as the only one who can lift America’s knee off of the necks of our brothers and sisters of color, those who are just as much image-bearers of you.
We call out the names of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, and far too many more who were killed haplessy, and we mourn their deaths. We mourn a system that oppresses people of color everywhere, we mourn the fact that many of us, including myself, are guilty of turning a blind eye to these things. And we mourn for the men and women who serve this country in law enforcement who are putting themselves in harms path because of the oppression and repression we as Americans have been guilty of for so many years.
And in the midst of our mourning the thing we must not do is remain silent. To remain silent is to assert that we believe there is nothing you can or will do about any of this God. Do not let us be guilty of that Sin Father, and forgive us when we are guilty of it. God I cry out to you to move among your church. Mobilize your people to be your hands and feet of change and justice in this world. Let your Gospel advance in all of our cities, and as it does, let it also bring healing, justice, and peace. God we cry to you, because we have no one else to cry to. Our government has failed, society as a whole has failed, love for the common good has failed. All these things we have cried to before turning to you and they have left us without hope. May we find our hope in you. May we look to the only one that cannot fail to bring change. Hear our cry, oh Lord, and move quickly in our nation. As you held open the eyes of King Asaph, do not let us sleep well until justice is done. Trouble our hearts to the point that we cannot speak. Refuse us any comfort in our souls, so that day and night our only desire is to cry out to you God. God bring the change that only you have the power to bring.
I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
God we cry out to you, and we know you hear us.
Amen