POINTER: November 2006

Westerhoff discusses next the lndividual Psalm of Lament. He claims that this is by far the most frequent type psalm in the Psalter,50 in all. He urges us to not be to narrow in our vision of the liturgical setting of this prayer-song. 1 Samuel 2:1-10 provides our critic with the setting for such a song of sadness. ls 38 :10-20 is another case of the Sitz in leben-the setting in life- of these psalms and their assurance of the salvation at hand in their time of trouble. when we find these songs in the Psalter only the lament remains. the breaks in the text indicate a response, a turning point given perhaps by a prayer leader. maybe there were special services for unjust accusation, illness,or asylum-seekers...

Psalm 13 :
[Psalm 13]Prayer for deliverance from enemies1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

A brief simple psalm which illustrate beautifully the genre if individual lament, according to Westerhoff. This has been the vehicle for the transmission of centuries of anxiety and sorrow. westerhoff ses here a kind of concentrated form of centuries lived suffering: "ln this long and movingprehistory the psalm received its extrememly succinct form , one in which each word represents many sentences , many chains of thought".

Four questions begin the psalm: How long? The cry that results from pressure that can no longer be endured. Westerhoff finds echoes of this lament in the Babylonian lamentations(http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/introduction/literature.htm ) , the German Christian Hymn "Jesu , meine Freude"( http://www.sfbach.org/repertoire/jesumeinefreude.html) and we may even uncover it perhaps in the contemporary Reggae movement( http://www.crosscurrents.org/murrell.htm)

Westerhoff's analysis sees the four questions divided into interrogations of the mysteries of God, self and the enemy:Vs 1 questions God exhibiting a questioning faith that depends upon God's presence for " the joy, happiness , freedom and health(that comes from) God's participation in human life". When these blessing are absent , God is absent.

Vs 2 a and b represent the complaint about self and vs 2c is the complaint about the enemies. Don't we believe in some way even today that the triumph of the enemies is an accusation against God, against justice and the way we expect life to unfold?! Why do the laments never tell us the specifics of the complaint? Perhaps they were edited to be general representations for all of the troubles of humankind... or maybe we have here a cry from deep in the human heart that knows all of life's symptomatic troubles are caused by the root causes of disruptions in the three basic relationships upon which happiness is built-God, self and others.

Petition naturally follows complaint. The two part petition from the communal; lament is found here. 1)Consider and answer and 2) lntervene. Consider is the prayer of one who knows the Divine is both transcendant and lmminent and that dialectical relationship is mysteriously part of the dance of the one believed in and the believer. Perhaps the divine in a free act of grace draws near when called upon ;maybe the believer can be changed into a receptive vessel by such cries to the Divine who just waits for such moments. lntervene is the prayer of the believer who dares to risk faith in a Divine whose powers mystically go beyond thought and word and proceed in a mighty way to action, rescue and deliverance.

The BUT of vs 5 may be the seam which indicates the place where a prophet or priest delivered an assurance in the voice of God that caused this kind of dramatic reversal. Here , perhaps we catch a hint of the liturgy into which these ancient songs were placed like antique jewels in a new and renewing setting. The danger to faith represented by lament is like the risky confrontation betweeen lovers. How often have we swallowed our complaints for fear that the rebuttal will be pitifully transparent and self-defensive . Or that it will reveal an aspect of our own behavior that deserves even greater condemnation! So complaint is risk- a gamble that says this love between us can bear open analysis because why? Because there is a power greater than the enemy of our mistakes...there is a foundational strength that we can trust even amid the volley of complaints. And so,perhaps all lover's disputes should include the affirmation of vs 6 - Bottom line though l dare come to you with my dissatisfaction , it is only because my trust is larger than my complaint, my exultation in what we have been and what more we can be outweighs my dispute and the song of gratitude that hums in my heart may once again drown out my present words that sound so angry and so sad...