Biblical Lament - "Complain" - Psalm 10

But instead, I can give you Psalm 10. And Psalm 10 gives us an example for how to pray when distress and hardship and evil seems to just overwhelm our life. And if Psalm 10 is an example for us to follow, Well, then there is certainly biblical permission for us to complain to God. Let's look back at verse 1.

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

These questions, these are accusations. God is being put on trial here. And to ramp up this tension even further, King David is asking theologically false questions about God. We know that God is not distant, that God is not cowardly. These questions, they're technically heresy, and yet they're enshrined in the canon of Scripture. These are true questions. And they're true not because they say something true about God's character, But they're true because they say something true about David's lived experience.

Whatever David is going through in this moment, God feels far away. He feels hidden. Life in a fallen world, it's often disconnected like this, right? There's theological truths about God that we must proclaim to be true. And yet, they don't always feel true. What we're feeling in those moments is not a tension in God, but it's a tension of life in this fallen world.

And God knows that this tension exists. He's not oblivious to what happens here on earth. He knows what's going on in our hearts. He knows what's going on in our thoughts. He knows that life can feel like this. And as James encouraged us last week, God wants us to bring that tension to him. He gives us permission to address this disconnect honestly and emotionally and vulnerably. I love how Mark Rogoff talks about this in his book, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy.

He writes that

lament is how those who know what God is like and believe in him address their pain. God is good, but life is hard. Enter complaint.

Another author similarly writes,

In other words, a circumstance that does not align with God's character and therefore does not make sense within God's kingdom.

As you read throughout the Psalms, you'll see that Psalm 10 is not the only place that God gets approached like this. I mean, there are plenty of whys and hows that accuse God.

God, why are you doing this? Where are you? How is this happening? These are all over the Psalms. And that should tell us that there is plenty of precedent for complaining and even questioning God. But as we keep reading through this Psalm, we'll notice that while David starts by questioning God, his true frustration is not necessarily with God himself. Right? It's with the wicked. What David proceeds to address and lament and complain about, it's actually godly things.

Biblical complaining is sanctifying

And so this is the second lesson I want us to draw from this psalm. Lesson one, we have permission to complain. Lesson two, biblical complaining is sanctifying. Biblical complaining is sanctifying. I mean, listen to the things that David complains about in verses 2 through 11.

I'm just gonna list these off real quick. The wicked hotly pursue the poor. He boasts of his sinful desires. He pridefully rejects God. His mouth curses and deceives and oppresses. He murders. He deceives. He carefully plans evil. He crushes the poor and helpless.

I mean, these are not good things. Right? David's not jealous of this guy. This isn't David coveting. No, to put it bluntly, David's pissed off about this. Right? This guy is wicked and his wickedness, it's hurting other people. He's getting rich doing it. And David's not alone in his frustration.

David is rightfully hating what God himself hates here. By putting his emotions and an expression to his theology of sin, David is aligning his heart with God's heart. David can properly complain and lament to God here because he is so deeply acquainted with God's Word. Think about this, this lament, it's a result of David's reading and studying and meditating and applying God's law and promises to the depths of his soul.

That's sanctification. That's what it means to grow up in godliness. So if we're gonna lament biblically, if we're gonna lament righteously, we need to have sound theology. But with that, we also can't just let our knowledge about God stay intellectual. No, it has to affect our hearts and our souls. And as we strive to know and think and believe and feel what God's Word says, well, it's amazing to see how God works in that. God meets us. He shapes us. He changes us. He does all sorts of sanctifying and graciously good things for us.

So as I was reading through the chapter on this, I was struck by one of Rogrop's illustrations related to this. This is a personal illustration that he shared. He wrote,

some days I would list in a journal everything that was troubling me. My practice was to write out a list of complaints and then talk to God about them. I found that pain made me myopic. It tended to narrow my focus on the sorrow that took over my life. Nothing else mattered. At least it felt that way. But as I wrote out my complaints and talked to the Lord about them, it was surprising how they lost their hold on me. Sometimes I even found myself laughing at the silly things I listed.

So Mark lamented to God, and God sanctified Mark in his suffering. He guided Mark to properly see his suffering for the mountains or sometimes even for the molehills that they truly were. God comforted, God encouraged, God cared for Mark in his distress. And he does the exact same thing for us.

So y'all, don't be afraid to lament and complain to God. Bring your questions to him, bring your frustrations to him, and as you do, be ready for God to respond. Your circumstances may not change, but be prepared for God to change you. Sometimes God may help you see just how overwhelming your situation truly is.

You may have been denying something that is brought to light through your lament. Sometimes the inverse may happen. You might find out that your mountains are actually molehills. Sometimes your perceived tragedy is actually just a first world inconvenience. Right? Sometimes your circumstances They're actually not the result of the wickedness around you. They're a result of the wickedness in you. And in those moments, you need to lament your sin and not just the suffering that it's caused.

Lamenting and grumbling

And sometimes, if you're lamenting, you may find out that you're actually grumbling. That's something I had to think about as I was preparing for this. What's the difference between lamenting and grumbling? Both are complaining. But while lamenting, it's godly, it's encouraged, it's sanctifying, grumbling is sinful and condemned. So how do we know the difference? When I'm complaining, am I grumbling or am I lamenting? Well, two things. First, the difference between lamenting and grumbling is the difference between humility and pride. We lament humbly and we grumble pridefully.

See, when we lament, we're still holding fast to God's character and his promises. We're simply just recognizing the disconnect between what's true about God and what we're experiencing in any given moment. Grumbling, on the other hand, it puts God on trial in a different way. We grumble when we arrogantly place our own judgments, our own views, our own opinions, our own desires, or whatever it may be, when we place those things above God. So Israel, for example, grumbled in the wilderness when they judged that slavery in Egypt was better than God's salvation and freedom.

Don't just complain

Lamenting is humble. Grumbling is prideful. Another way we can differentiate between grumbling and lament, grumbling concludes with complaints. But in lament, our complaint is a means to a greater end. That's the last lesson that I think this psalm teaches us about lament and complaining. Lesson three, don't just complain. Don't just complain.

Notice there's a shift that takes place in this psalm right around verses 12 and 13. Verse 1 asks, why, O Lord? Verse 12 then calls upon the Lord. Arise, O Lord. In verse 13, this line of questioning turns toward the wicked. Verse 1, why, how, why, God? Verse 13,

why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account?

Rogop calls complaint a turning point of lament. It's meant to push us toward God. He compares complaint to a surgeon's cut. It's a painful moment that's ultimately meant to heal. And we're never meant to linger or wallow in our complaints. Notice how King David does this in Psalm 10. We get 10 verses of heartfelt complaining to God. And then what follows is seven verses of heartfelt reaffirmation of who God is and what he does.

But you do see, you note the mischief and vexation that you may take it into your own hands. God is king forever. He has been the helper of the fatherless. He hears the desires of the afflicted. He will strengthen their heart. He will incline his ear to do justice.

Yes, our pain, our suffering, that feeling, it's real. It's true.

But it is not the ultimate truth. The ultimate truth is that God is working all things for good for those who have been called according to his purpose. The ultimate truth is that God did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. The ultimate truth is that

neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing. The ultimate truth is that Jesus cried out the ultimate lament on the cross.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Jesus cried out this ultimate lament so that we would never, ever have to say that for ourselves.

Complain boldly to God

Church, life is hard. It's been hard, and it's going to be hard. I recognize that. And please know, I mean, based on this Psalm, based on Scripture, it is okay to let God know how hard life is. Complain boldly to God. And then, reaffirm God's love for you, His grace towards you, His Spirit in you, and His work on your behalf, both right now and for eternity.

You are not forsaken. You are always and forever safe and secure in the loving arms of a good and gracious Father who loves you and is working out all things no matter what you're experiencing in this moment, all things for your good and for his glory. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you love us and you care for us and you are always near to us.

And Lord, we confess that this does not always feel true. Lord, you sometimes feel distant, you feel weak, you feel mean, And Lord, we know this isn't the case, but Lord, we confess that our circumstances can overwhelm how we feel about you. Lord, we pray that you help us.

Help us to be honest with you in our suffering. Help us to be vulnerable. Help us to complain humbly with a true and deep love for you in our hearts. And Lord, when we walk through the valleys and the shadowy paths of life, Lord, we pray that your rod and your staff comfort us and guide us.

Lord, may we feel near to you. May you lead us to green grass and still water. Lord, we pray that you restore our souls and our suffering. And Lord, we pray that we may ultimately cling to the eternal hope that you have given us in our salvation. May we hold fast as you hold us fast. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.