March 15, 2023 • 22 mins
Kimber talks about a style of poetry found in Scripture, particularly in the Psalms, called lament, and how we can use this style of prayer to bring our hurts and loneliness to God. She shares her own journey practicing lament, as well as an original spoken word poem that melds lines from Psalm 22 with her own expressions of grief and loneliness.
By the end of this quick listen, she prays you are drawn to carve out your own time of authentic prayer and lament to the Lord as a means to walk through loneliness with and toward Jesus.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kimber (00:09):
Hey friends.
Welcome to the, your sisterKimber podcast.
My name is Kimberly Gilbert, andI'm so glad you're here.
I don't know about you, but mostof my favorite Bible verses are
pretty positive, hopeful atleast.
But the Bible is also full ofpassages that maybe make us
squirm.
If we're just looking for a feelgood.
Pick me up.
or that feel really on the noserelatable.
(00:31):
If we're walking through a toughseason.
Today, we're digging into thiskind of passage specifically.
the genre of lament inscripture.
And how we can use lament bothlimits from scripture directly
and just the style of prayer inour own prayer lives to battle
the loneliness that we'reexperiencing.
I hope our chat today helps yougrow authentic community.
(00:53):
Friendships honor God and drawcloser to Jesus.
And, you know, I wish we coulddig into this idea over coffee
together, but this is the nextbest thing.
I'm so glad you're here, friend.
Let's get started.
Isn't it always, when you thinkyou're over something that it
Springs back up.
(01:14):
I hadn't felt feelings ofloneliness for a while until the
other day.
When it came at me out ofnowhere.
I had heard that some friendswere going out one evening and I
hadn't been invited.
This was totally fine.
And under normal circumstances,this would have even felt
totally fine to anything.
They weren't my closest friendsanyway.
(01:35):
So it's not like an invite waseven expected.
Plus I was home solo with my kidanyway that night.
So it's not like I would've beenable to go anyway.
And what's more.
More, I literally already hadfriends coming over that night.
You guys like there wasabsolutely zero reason that I
should be feeling loneliness inthat moment.
(01:58):
So as I noticed what I wasfeeling, I tried to put into
practice what we've been talkingabout here on the podcast
lately.
So I felt it, I let myself besad for a bit, even though in
the back of my mind, I was like,you are crazy.
This is rational.
Tried to let it just be for aminute and just accept it as
something I was feeling, eventhough it didn't feel valid or
(02:21):
logical to me.
And then I started to ask thequestion.
That Susie Edwards taught us afew weeks ago on the podcast.
This was the question.
What am I lonely for here?
Like for me, I don't think itwas friendship in that actual
moment because I had peoplecoming over later.
And I'm not even super closewith those who I was feeling
(02:43):
FOMO over.
Like, did I need time with God?
Did I need time for myself?
What was I really lonely for?
What was really going on in myheart?
And through some prayer.
I honestly think friends.
That it was just some cabinfever talking.
I'm super overwinter right now.
I think I was just feeling kindof trapped, like hubby out of
(03:05):
town, solo parenting.
Like, yeah, that, that fits.
That makes sense.
But all this to say, I thinkthat there is such power in
giving our emotions space tobreathe in our lives.
Whether you're in a season rightnow where the loneliness just
feels really pervasive.
Or if it hits you more randomly,like it did me the other day.
(03:28):
I really think allowing yourselfto feel it.
And ask questions can be sopowerful in allowing it to drive
us toward what our hearts aretruly logging for, which might
or might not be what youinitially would have thought.
And scripture backs this up to.
Today.
I want to take a moment with youguys to talk about the idea of
lament, which is a form ofexpression that we see in
(03:51):
scripture.
Particularly in a lot of timesin the Psalms.
element is essentially anoutpouring of grief to God.
And friends.
I think that we're really goodin our culture at the art of
ranting.
But I don't think we're so goodat the art of lament.
C laments model authors pouringout their hearts, their
(04:14):
complaints, their confessions toGod, with authenticity and
vulnerability.
And we see similarities betweenrant and lament, right?
Both ramps and laments arehonest.
Usually both of them revealanger or frustration or sadness.
But where ranting accuses Lamentis going to acknowledge pain and
(04:38):
grief.
And there's a difference there.
Where ranting we'll eventually,usually just kind of spit her
out and die.
Lament it actually rebuilds ourfaith.
Where ranting is visionlesslament.
Recenters us on the Lord.
And so today I want to sharewith you a bit about one such
(05:00):
lament Psalm 22.
It's a messianic Psalm, whichjust means that we see lots of
prophetic imagery of Jesus onthe cross in David's words, but
they were also his reality.
It's not like he was onlywriting prophetically about the
Messiah.
Like he felt this too.
And so we can follow his examplein expressing this kind of grief
(05:23):
to God as well.
So I want to read it for you.
And then I'm going to share someof my own writing inspired by
this Psalm.
In a little bit.
So this is what Psalm 22 says.
Says my God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far away?
When I grown for help?
(05:45):
Every day I call to you my God,but you do not answer.
Every night, I lift my voice,but I find no relief.
Yeah, you are wholly.
And throned on the praises ofIsrael.
Our ancestors trusted in you andyou rescued them.
They cried out to you and weresaved.
(06:07):
They trusted in you and werenever disgraced.
But I am a worm and not a man.
I'm scorned and despised by all.
Everyone who sees me mocks me,they sneer and shake their heads
saying, is this the one whorelies on the Lord and let the
Lord save him?
(06:27):
If the Lord loves him so much,let the Lord rescue him.
Yet you brought me safely frommy mother's womb.
And led me to trust you at mymother's breast.
I was thrust into your arms atmy birth.
You have been my God from themoment I was born.
Do not stay so far from me.
For trouble is near and no oneelse can help me.
(06:50):
My enemies surround me like aherd of bowls.
Fierce bulls of Bashan havehemmed me in.
I like lions.
They open their jaws against me,roaring and tearing into their
prey.
My life is poured out likewater.
And all my bones are out ofjoint.
My heart is like wax meltingwithin me.
(07:10):
My strength has dried up likesun baked clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof ofmy mouth.
You have laid me in the dust andleft me for dead.
My enemy surround me like a packof dogs and evil gang closes in
on me.
They've pierced my hands andfeet.
I can count all my bones, myenemies stare at me and gloat.
(07:35):
They divide my clothes amongthem and cast lots for my
garment.
Oh, Lord do not stay far away.
You are my strength come quicklyto my aid.
Save me from the sword spare.
My precious life from these dogssnatched me from the lions jaws
and from the horns of these wildoxen.
(07:56):
I will proclaim your name to mybrothers and sisters.
I will praise you among yourassembled people.
Praise the Lord.
All you fear him.
Honor him all you descendants ofJacob.
Show him reverence all youdescendants of Israel for he has
not ignored or belittled thesuffering of the needy.
(08:17):
He has not turned his back onthem.
But has listened to their criesfor help.
I will praise you in thegreatest assembly.
I will fulfill my vows in thepresence of those who worship
you.
The poor will eat and besatisfied.
All who seek the Lord willpraise him.
Their hearts will rejoice witheverlasting joy.
(08:39):
The whole earth will acknowledgethe Lord and return to him.
All of the families of thenations will bow down before him
for Royal power belongs to theLord.
He rules all the nations.
All the rich of the earth willfeast and worship.
All who go down to the dust willkneel before him.
(09:00):
Those who cannot keep themselvesalive.
Posterity we'll serve him.
Future generations will be toldabout the Lord.
They will proclaim hisrighteousness, declaring to a
people yet on board.
He has done it.
(09:20):
Ah, I love this Psalm.
Did you catch any of thereferences to the cross?
The first line?
My God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
Which Jesus quotes on the crossto his hands being pierced or
gambling over his clothes.
And there's lots more.
And I think it's such abeautiful picture of how Jesus
(09:40):
takes on our pain.
David felt these things duringhis life.
And he wrote them out as aprayer to God.
And then years later on thecross, his descendant.
Who was also God.
And so heard them from Davidwhen he first pet them.
And grew up reading them as partof his cultural songs.
(10:02):
He then repeats them back toGod.
In his own moment of anguish.
Echoing David, and just all ofhumanity's broken heart at the
weight of sin.
Friend.
Jesus gets us.
Authentically completely.
He understands our brokenhearts, both from a perspective
(10:23):
of hearing our, every cry fromheaven and from when he was
down, living it with us.
Hey friend, forgive me fortaking a quick moment in this
conversation.
Ask a favor of you.
I hope what I'm sharing today isblessing you.
And if so, would you take amoment to rate and review the
(10:44):
show on apple podcasts?
Reviews are huge and helping mefriends find the show and
bonuses.
I love reading.
What's blessing you from thepodcast.
You can find the link to leave areview and the description of
this episode.
So thanks so much for taking asecond to do that.
Okay.
Back to the show.
(11:06):
I find two things most inspiringabout this kind of poem, the
honesty and the endings.
Some of the content you'll findin lemons are downright gnarly.
They're pictures of people intrue pain, bringing God the
whole of it.
And we can imitate theirvulnerability with our father.
He can handle the full spectrumof human emotions and scripture
(11:29):
seems to demonstrate that heeven welcomes it when we trust
him with our authentic hearts inthis way.
The endings of laments though.
They're what really get me.
Not always, but often the poetsof laments find themselves at
the end of their pain, in aplace of praise.
And so is the case with Psalm22.
(11:50):
It's as if they've poured outall the junk.
On the floor.
At the Lord's feet.
And once it's out of theirheads, out of their hearts
before him.
All that's left to come out oftheir hearts is praise.
And I think this is the trickthat the enemy doesn't want us
to catch emptying your heart ofcomplaints or anger or hurts.
(12:11):
All the emotions that feel toomessy or improper for God.
is actually the very action thatcan unearth the foundation of
our souls.
Of trust, faith and hope in thegoodness of God.
It's almost as though the junkof our hearts, like covers it up
or gets tamped down on andblocks out the foundation that
(12:32):
we have.
Of trust and faith and hope inour lives.
It covers it up.
But putting the pain out thereto God.
It lets the light breathe.
In our hearts.
And there really is no one whois better equipped to handle all
of that junk and care for ourhurt hearts in those moments.
(12:53):
Then the Lord.
So the next time that it feelslike loneliness is like
suffocating your soul.
I invite you to stop stuffingand instead.
I practice lament with the Lord.
It's an exercise that stretchesme as I personally am really
quick to rationalize and fixthings.
(13:14):
But lament helps me sit in whatI'm feeling with the Lord.
Not in isolation.
So today I want to share withyou a poem that I've written
with Psalm 22.
And the idea of lament in mind.
I wrote this when I first wantedto try practicing lament, but
felt a little bit lost on how todo that on my own.
(13:35):
So I decided to just follow themodel of Psalm 22.
And basically I was weaving asmany of the lines of David's
poem into my own that I couldwhile still making it authentic
to my experience, my voice andmy message.
And doing this, it allowed me toreflect on this idea of lament
and just how this practice canbring us to the feet of Jesus,
(13:58):
where we are comforted by theassurance that he.
He understands our lonelinessmore deeply than anyone, and
that he made a way for us tonever have to experience it
fully in the way that he did.
So here's feeling forsaken fromPsalm 22.
(14:18):
My God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
It's an easy thing to cry atnight when the light seems
distant and strange when decayfeels more apt than.
Staying strength.
Why are you so far away?
When I grown for help?
(14:39):
Like I'm just out here alone, aknown.
There's no one I can truly trustor ask for help.
So every day I call to you byGod.
But you did not answer.
the.dot dots unending.
And I just really can't keeppretending that I think you're
listening.
(15:00):
Every night.
I lift my voice.
But no response, no relief, noteven a noise from you.
And yet.
My holy god I look to thefaithful before me.
They trusted in you and yourescued them.
From loneliness and strain fromsickness and shame.
(15:23):
They cried out to you.
And we're saved.
They trusted you.
They were never disgraced.
And it's a lovely story, butreally is it for me?
God's good.
God's glory.
Do I really want the Lord tosave me?
I just want a friend.
Belonging.
(15:43):
But.
Like a worm eating dirt.
I can't even see.
That I'm hurt when I shootmyself in the foot.
Denying your rescue, yourcloseness, your compassion.
Literally for me, my firstaccusation, it's just a
nearsighted copy of your wordson the cross.
When all of it.
(16:04):
You lost.
Your friends and your mother,and for a bit, even God, the
father.
Uh, loneliness.
So profound felt in your bonesfelt by the ground.
Darkness swirled all around thevery sun, blocking it out.
By what felt like disaster?
(16:24):
The death of hope, a savior nomore.
But your life poured out likewater is the ultimate power to
melt.
My waxen waving heart.
My strength is dried up like sunbaked clay.
Mouth dry, but maybe I couldwhisper your name.
(16:46):
My rescue.
Jesus Lord, please.
Don't stay so far away.
You heard my only strength.
Please.
Come to my aid.
My anger.
Melts.
At Jesus' gays.
Because now it's not your back.
(17:07):
I see.
It's Jesus.
On his knees praying take thiscup from me.
God, why have you left me?
Friends.
Can't you pray with me?
Loneliness.
As familiar to you.
As it is to me.
My great high priest.
(17:28):
The one who gets me the deepestparts of me sees my anguish,
hears my please.
When he silent.
He's still next to me.
Listening.
And like hope Springs, a new,you walked out of your own tomb
as easily as you brought mesafely from my mother's womb.
(17:52):
Intimacy and relationshipaccessible.
And renewed.
The father in reach, neverasleep.
Jesus for sake, him.
It closed the distance.
So I never have to know as deepas he did.
(18:12):
In my broken bones.
the loneliness that could onlycome from the father turning
away.
Jesus has never ignored me.
Rolled his eyes at my morning.
He doesn't belittle the needy.
He gets it completely.
He lived loneliness fully.
(18:33):
He will never turn his back.
He's listening to my, every cryfor help.
How do I know?
Verse 10.
It reminds me.
I was thrust into your arms atmy birth.
Held close.
Loved completely.
Not alone, not forsaken, notunheard.
Swaddled carefully.
(18:55):
And tonight I'm reminded byDavid's hurt.
By his honest, cutting words,that feeling forsaken.
Doesn't mean it's true.
There's a good plan in store forme.
In store for you.
You have been my God.
From the moment I was born.
(19:21):
A friend of mine shared internetone time that we never have to
feel forsaken because Jesus wasforsaken on our behalf.
Jesus understands these deepfeelings of loneliness and
isolation that arise in ourhearts.
And this is the fine line.
We get to walk as followers ofJesus.
(19:41):
Even though feeling ourloneliness can be useful and
healthy and growth inducing.
We don't have to stay stuckthere.
When we're in Christ, we mightfeel alone at times, but we
don't dwell alone ever.
And friends, I think such arealization can only drive us to
our knees and worship.
(20:01):
Like what a good God.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
That all our griefs, he can.
And did bear.
Amen.
Friends.
I'm so glad you could join metoday on the, your sister Kimber
(20:23):
podcast I think today'sconversation about using lament
to process.
Our feelings of loneliness was abit of a microcosm of lament.
We went deep and dark, Butpraise God that as Christ
followers, we get to end on thatnote of victory and rescue in
Jesus.
I'm so thankful for that livinghope that reminds me.
(20:43):
That my present chiles aretemporary and light.
In light of eternity with mydeliver.
So friends today, I've got justtwo things for you.
As we wrap up our time together.
First, are you part of mynewsletter crew?
When you subscribe on mywebsite, you get my weekly
newsletter directly to youremail inbox with a preview of
(21:04):
what will be featured on thepodcast that week.
Plus it has a link to thismonth's blog post.
And some other resources andtips to help you grow
friendships that honor God anddraw closer to Jesus.
If you don't get that yet, justhead over to my website to join
the link is in the descriptionof this episode.
And while you're there, if youhaven't yet, we download my new
(21:24):
free resource.
I want you to have it.
It's called 20 facts to knowabout your friends.
And it's designed to help youcollect some simple, yet useful
facts about your friends, abouttheir lives.
They likes how their minds workto help you love them.
Well, down the road, this islike playing the long game kind
of thing.
You can find it on my website.
So be sure to grab that whileyou're there too.
(21:46):
Friends.
Thanks so much for being part ofthis community until next time.
It's your sister Kimber.
Hey friends.
Welcome to the, your sisterKimber podcast.
My name is Kimberly Gilbert, andI'm so glad you're here.
I don't know about you, but mostof my favorite Bible verses are
pretty positive, hopeful atleast.
But the Bible is also full ofpassages that maybe make us
squirm.
If we're just looking for a feelgood.
Pick me up.
or that feel really on the noserelatable.
(00:31):
If we're walking through a toughseason.
Today, we're digging into thiskind of passage specifically.
the genre of lament inscripture.
And how we can use lament bothlimits from scripture directly
and just the style of prayer inour own prayer lives to battle
the loneliness that we'reexperiencing.
I hope our chat today helps yougrow authentic community.
(00:53):
Friendships honor God and drawcloser to Jesus.
And, you know, I wish we coulddig into this idea over coffee
together, but this is the nextbest thing.
I'm so glad you're here, friend.
Let's get started.
Isn't it always, when you thinkyou're over something that it
Springs back up.
(01:14):
I hadn't felt feelings ofloneliness for a while until the
other day.
When it came at me out ofnowhere.
I had heard that some friendswere going out one evening and I
hadn't been invited.
This was totally fine.
And under normal circumstances,this would have even felt
totally fine to anything.
They weren't my closest friendsanyway.
(01:35):
So it's not like an invite waseven expected.
Plus I was home solo with my kidanyway that night.
So it's not like I would've beenable to go anyway.
And what's more.
More, I literally already hadfriends coming over that night.
You guys like there wasabsolutely zero reason that I
should be feeling loneliness inthat moment.
(01:58):
So as I noticed what I wasfeeling, I tried to put into
practice what we've been talkingabout here on the podcast
lately.
So I felt it, I let myself besad for a bit, even though in
the back of my mind, I was like,you are crazy.
This is rational.
Tried to let it just be for aminute and just accept it as
something I was feeling, eventhough it didn't feel valid or
(02:21):
logical to me.
And then I started to ask thequestion.
That Susie Edwards taught us afew weeks ago on the podcast.
This was the question.
What am I lonely for here?
Like for me, I don't think itwas friendship in that actual
moment because I had peoplecoming over later.
And I'm not even super closewith those who I was feeling
(02:43):
FOMO over.
Like, did I need time with God?
Did I need time for myself?
What was I really lonely for?
What was really going on in myheart?
And through some prayer.
I honestly think friends.
That it was just some cabinfever talking.
I'm super overwinter right now.
I think I was just feeling kindof trapped, like hubby out of
(03:05):
town, solo parenting.
Like, yeah, that, that fits.
That makes sense.
But all this to say, I thinkthat there is such power in
giving our emotions space tobreathe in our lives.
Whether you're in a season rightnow where the loneliness just
feels really pervasive.
Or if it hits you more randomly,like it did me the other day.
(03:28):
I really think allowing yourselfto feel it.
And ask questions can be sopowerful in allowing it to drive
us toward what our hearts aretruly logging for, which might
or might not be what youinitially would have thought.
And scripture backs this up to.
Today.
I want to take a moment with youguys to talk about the idea of
lament, which is a form ofexpression that we see in
(03:51):
scripture.
Particularly in a lot of timesin the Psalms.
element is essentially anoutpouring of grief to God.
And friends.
I think that we're really goodin our culture at the art of
ranting.
But I don't think we're so goodat the art of lament.
C laments model authors pouringout their hearts, their
(04:14):
complaints, their confessions toGod, with authenticity and
vulnerability.
And we see similarities betweenrant and lament, right?
Both ramps and laments arehonest.
Usually both of them revealanger or frustration or sadness.
But where ranting accuses Lamentis going to acknowledge pain and
(04:38):
grief.
And there's a difference there.
Where ranting we'll eventually,usually just kind of spit her
out and die.
Lament it actually rebuilds ourfaith.
Where ranting is visionlesslament.
Recenters us on the Lord.
And so today I want to sharewith you a bit about one such
(05:00):
lament Psalm 22.
It's a messianic Psalm, whichjust means that we see lots of
prophetic imagery of Jesus onthe cross in David's words, but
they were also his reality.
It's not like he was onlywriting prophetically about the
Messiah.
Like he felt this too.
And so we can follow his examplein expressing this kind of grief
(05:23):
to God as well.
So I want to read it for you.
And then I'm going to share someof my own writing inspired by
this Psalm.
In a little bit.
So this is what Psalm 22 says.
Says my God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far away?
When I grown for help?
(05:45):
Every day I call to you my God,but you do not answer.
Every night, I lift my voice,but I find no relief.
Yeah, you are wholly.
And throned on the praises ofIsrael.
Our ancestors trusted in you andyou rescued them.
They cried out to you and weresaved.
(06:07):
They trusted in you and werenever disgraced.
But I am a worm and not a man.
I'm scorned and despised by all.
Everyone who sees me mocks me,they sneer and shake their heads
saying, is this the one whorelies on the Lord and let the
Lord save him?
(06:27):
If the Lord loves him so much,let the Lord rescue him.
Yet you brought me safely frommy mother's womb.
And led me to trust you at mymother's breast.
I was thrust into your arms atmy birth.
You have been my God from themoment I was born.
Do not stay so far from me.
For trouble is near and no oneelse can help me.
(06:50):
My enemies surround me like aherd of bowls.
Fierce bulls of Bashan havehemmed me in.
I like lions.
They open their jaws against me,roaring and tearing into their
prey.
My life is poured out likewater.
And all my bones are out ofjoint.
My heart is like wax meltingwithin me.
(07:10):
My strength has dried up likesun baked clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof ofmy mouth.
You have laid me in the dust andleft me for dead.
My enemy surround me like a packof dogs and evil gang closes in
on me.
They've pierced my hands andfeet.
I can count all my bones, myenemies stare at me and gloat.
(07:35):
They divide my clothes amongthem and cast lots for my
garment.
Oh, Lord do not stay far away.
You are my strength come quicklyto my aid.
Save me from the sword spare.
My precious life from these dogssnatched me from the lions jaws
and from the horns of these wildoxen.
(07:56):
I will proclaim your name to mybrothers and sisters.
I will praise you among yourassembled people.
Praise the Lord.
All you fear him.
Honor him all you descendants ofJacob.
Show him reverence all youdescendants of Israel for he has
not ignored or belittled thesuffering of the needy.
(08:17):
He has not turned his back onthem.
But has listened to their criesfor help.
I will praise you in thegreatest assembly.
I will fulfill my vows in thepresence of those who worship
you.
The poor will eat and besatisfied.
All who seek the Lord willpraise him.
Their hearts will rejoice witheverlasting joy.
(08:39):
The whole earth will acknowledgethe Lord and return to him.
All of the families of thenations will bow down before him
for Royal power belongs to theLord.
He rules all the nations.
All the rich of the earth willfeast and worship.
All who go down to the dust willkneel before him.
(09:00):
Those who cannot keep themselvesalive.
Posterity we'll serve him.
Future generations will be toldabout the Lord.
They will proclaim hisrighteousness, declaring to a
people yet on board.
He has done it.
(09:20):
Ah, I love this Psalm.
Did you catch any of thereferences to the cross?
The first line?
My God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
Which Jesus quotes on the crossto his hands being pierced or
gambling over his clothes.
And there's lots more.
And I think it's such abeautiful picture of how Jesus
(09:40):
takes on our pain.
David felt these things duringhis life.
And he wrote them out as aprayer to God.
And then years later on thecross, his descendant.
Who was also God.
And so heard them from Davidwhen he first pet them.
And grew up reading them as partof his cultural songs.
(10:02):
He then repeats them back toGod.
In his own moment of anguish.
Echoing David, and just all ofhumanity's broken heart at the
weight of sin.
Friend.
Jesus gets us.
Authentically completely.
He understands our brokenhearts, both from a perspective
(10:23):
of hearing our, every cry fromheaven and from when he was
down, living it with us.
Hey friend, forgive me fortaking a quick moment in this
conversation.
Ask a favor of you.
I hope what I'm sharing today isblessing you.
And if so, would you take amoment to rate and review the
(10:44):
show on apple podcasts?
Reviews are huge and helping mefriends find the show and
bonuses.
I love reading.
What's blessing you from thepodcast.
You can find the link to leave areview and the description of
this episode.
So thanks so much for taking asecond to do that.
Okay.
Back to the show.
(11:06):
I find two things most inspiringabout this kind of poem, the
honesty and the endings.
Some of the content you'll findin lemons are downright gnarly.
They're pictures of people intrue pain, bringing God the
whole of it.
And we can imitate theirvulnerability with our father.
He can handle the full spectrumof human emotions and scripture
(11:29):
seems to demonstrate that heeven welcomes it when we trust
him with our authentic hearts inthis way.
The endings of laments though.
They're what really get me.
Not always, but often the poetsof laments find themselves at
the end of their pain, in aplace of praise.
And so is the case with Psalm22.
(11:50):
It's as if they've poured outall the junk.
On the floor.
At the Lord's feet.
And once it's out of theirheads, out of their hearts
before him.
All that's left to come out oftheir hearts is praise.
And I think this is the trickthat the enemy doesn't want us
to catch emptying your heart ofcomplaints or anger or hurts.
(12:11):
All the emotions that feel toomessy or improper for God.
is actually the very action thatcan unearth the foundation of
our souls.
Of trust, faith and hope in thegoodness of God.
It's almost as though the junkof our hearts, like covers it up
or gets tamped down on andblocks out the foundation that
(12:32):
we have.
Of trust and faith and hope inour lives.
It covers it up.
But putting the pain out thereto God.
It lets the light breathe.
In our hearts.
And there really is no one whois better equipped to handle all
of that junk and care for ourhurt hearts in those moments.
(12:53):
Then the Lord.
So the next time that it feelslike loneliness is like
suffocating your soul.
I invite you to stop stuffingand instead.
I practice lament with the Lord.
It's an exercise that stretchesme as I personally am really
quick to rationalize and fixthings.
(13:14):
But lament helps me sit in whatI'm feeling with the Lord.
Not in isolation.
So today I want to share withyou a poem that I've written
with Psalm 22.
And the idea of lament in mind.
I wrote this when I first wantedto try practicing lament, but
felt a little bit lost on how todo that on my own.
(13:35):
So I decided to just follow themodel of Psalm 22.
And basically I was weaving asmany of the lines of David's
poem into my own that I couldwhile still making it authentic
to my experience, my voice andmy message.
And doing this, it allowed me toreflect on this idea of lament
and just how this practice canbring us to the feet of Jesus,
(13:58):
where we are comforted by theassurance that he.
He understands our lonelinessmore deeply than anyone, and
that he made a way for us tonever have to experience it
fully in the way that he did.
So here's feeling forsaken fromPsalm 22.
(14:18):
My God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
It's an easy thing to cry atnight when the light seems
distant and strange when decayfeels more apt than.
Staying strength.
Why are you so far away?
When I grown for help?
(14:39):
Like I'm just out here alone, aknown.
There's no one I can truly trustor ask for help.
So every day I call to you byGod.
But you did not answer.
the.dot dots unending.
And I just really can't keeppretending that I think you're
listening.
(15:00):
Every night.
I lift my voice.
But no response, no relief, noteven a noise from you.
And yet.
My holy god I look to thefaithful before me.
They trusted in you and yourescued them.
From loneliness and strain fromsickness and shame.
(15:23):
They cried out to you.
And we're saved.
They trusted you.
They were never disgraced.
And it's a lovely story, butreally is it for me?
God's good.
God's glory.
Do I really want the Lord tosave me?
I just want a friend.
Belonging.
(15:43):
But.
Like a worm eating dirt.
I can't even see.
That I'm hurt when I shootmyself in the foot.
Denying your rescue, yourcloseness, your compassion.
Literally for me, my firstaccusation, it's just a
nearsighted copy of your wordson the cross.
When all of it.
(16:04):
You lost.
Your friends and your mother,and for a bit, even God, the
father.
Uh, loneliness.
So profound felt in your bonesfelt by the ground.
Darkness swirled all around thevery sun, blocking it out.
By what felt like disaster?
(16:24):
The death of hope, a savior nomore.
But your life poured out likewater is the ultimate power to
melt.
My waxen waving heart.
My strength is dried up like sunbaked clay.
Mouth dry, but maybe I couldwhisper your name.
(16:46):
My rescue.
Jesus Lord, please.
Don't stay so far away.
You heard my only strength.
Please.
Come to my aid.
My anger.
Melts.
At Jesus' gays.
Because now it's not your back.
(17:07):
I see.
It's Jesus.
On his knees praying take thiscup from me.
God, why have you left me?
Friends.
Can't you pray with me?
Loneliness.
As familiar to you.
As it is to me.
My great high priest.
(17:28):
The one who gets me the deepestparts of me sees my anguish,
hears my please.
When he silent.
He's still next to me.
Listening.
And like hope Springs, a new,you walked out of your own tomb
as easily as you brought mesafely from my mother's womb.
(17:52):
Intimacy and relationshipaccessible.
And renewed.
The father in reach, neverasleep.
Jesus for sake, him.
It closed the distance.
So I never have to know as deepas he did.
(18:12):
In my broken bones.
the loneliness that could onlycome from the father turning
away.
Jesus has never ignored me.
Rolled his eyes at my morning.
He doesn't belittle the needy.
He gets it completely.
He lived loneliness fully.
(18:33):
He will never turn his back.
He's listening to my, every cryfor help.
How do I know?
Verse 10.
It reminds me.
I was thrust into your arms atmy birth.
Held close.
Loved completely.
Not alone, not forsaken, notunheard.
Swaddled carefully.
(18:55):
And tonight I'm reminded byDavid's hurt.
By his honest, cutting words,that feeling forsaken.
Doesn't mean it's true.
There's a good plan in store forme.
In store for you.
You have been my God.
From the moment I was born.
(19:21):
A friend of mine shared internetone time that we never have to
feel forsaken because Jesus wasforsaken on our behalf.
Jesus understands these deepfeelings of loneliness and
isolation that arise in ourhearts.
And this is the fine line.
We get to walk as followers ofJesus.
(19:41):
Even though feeling ourloneliness can be useful and
healthy and growth inducing.
We don't have to stay stuckthere.
When we're in Christ, we mightfeel alone at times, but we
don't dwell alone ever.
And friends, I think such arealization can only drive us to
our knees and worship.
(20:01):
Like what a good God.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
That all our griefs, he can.
And did bear.
Amen.
Friends.
I'm so glad you could join metoday on the, your sister Kimber
(20:23):
podcast I think today'sconversation about using lament
to process.
Our feelings of loneliness was abit of a microcosm of lament.
We went deep and dark, Butpraise God that as Christ
followers, we get to end on thatnote of victory and rescue in
Jesus.
I'm so thankful for that livinghope that reminds me.
(20:43):
That my present chiles aretemporary and light.
In light of eternity with mydeliver.
So friends today, I've got justtwo things for you.
As we wrap up our time together.
First, are you part of mynewsletter crew?
When you subscribe on mywebsite, you get my weekly
newsletter directly to youremail inbox with a preview of
(21:04):
what will be featured on thepodcast that week.
Plus it has a link to thismonth's blog post.
And some other resources andtips to help you grow
friendships that honor God anddraw closer to Jesus.
If you don't get that yet, justhead over to my website to join
the link is in the descriptionof this episode.
And while you're there, if youhaven't yet, we download my new
(21:24):
free resource.
I want you to have it.
It's called 20 facts to knowabout your friends.
And it's designed to help youcollect some simple, yet useful
facts about your friends, abouttheir lives.
They likes how their minds workto help you love them.
Well, down the road, this islike playing the long game kind
of thing.
You can find it on my website.
So be sure to grab that whileyou're there too.
(21:46):
Friends.
Thanks so much for being part ofthis community until next time.
It's your sister Kimber.
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