Print Blog
Email a FriendGood insight. Thanks for the thoughtful reminders to all of us. I really enjoyed reading it.
Complain. Trust. Repeat.
Lessons from Patterns in the Psalms
by Daria Sockey in Family on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 6:00 AM
If there is one thing I’ve learned from the psalms, it’s that it’s okay to complain to God.
There was a time when I though this was wrong. I had overdosed on saint stories that give the impression that unless we positively crave opportunities to suffer for the love of God, and burst into rhapsodies of delight at each new illness, inconvenience, and disappointment, we are not really being very holy.
And should the thought ever cross our minds in the midst of trouble — God, what on earth are you thinking to let this happen to me? — we are being sinful.
But King David and the other psalmists complained plenty. They go on in great detail about how badly things are going, and ask God why he hasn’t fixed things yet. They tell God they don’t understand why he worked so many miracles in the past but doesn’t seem to do so anymore.
Now, keep in mind that the psalms were the language of prayer that Jesus learned and used. As he was dying, he cried to his Father with the ultimate complaint from Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?”
The Church tells us the psalms as perfect prayers for almost every need of the human heart. The liturgy (both the mass and the divine office) are positively soaked in the psalms. Including the complaints.
So complaining to God about our troubles — whether our individual problems or those of the Church — can’t be wrong. Let’s take a look at the biblical way to complain. Here are a few samples from the repeating monthly cycle of Morning and Evening prayer in the Divine Office (otherwise known as Lauds and Vespers):
Psalm 143: The enemy pursues my soul, he has crushed my life to the ground…lord make haste and answer for my spirit fails within me. Do not hide your face…In the morning let me know your love, for I put my trust in you, make me know the way I should walk for to you I lift up my soul.
Psalm 116: I trusted even when I said “I am sorely afflicted” and when I said in my alarm: “no man can be trusted”
Psalm 43: Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning, oppressed by the foe?...Why are you cast down my soul, why groan within me? Hope in God, I will praise him still, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 142: I will tell him all my distress while my spirit faints withing me….But you, O Lord,know my path.
The pattern is easy to see. Complain while trusting. Trust while complaining.
This makes perfect sense. In fact, it is what good (but fallen) children will do. Think of that fussy toddler screaming his head off while clinging to your leg. Or the whiny five year old whose favorite phrase is “That’s not fair.” Or the eye-rolling, door-slamming teenager.
Despite each age-appropriate version of “why have you rejected me?” they will continue to trust you. Beyond all the fussing, they know that you love them and have their best interests at heart. Not that they will come and state, “That’s okay mom. I trust you no matter what happens, even if you don’t buy me a new Ipod.” These are fallen children we’re talking about. But their continued trust is, I think, implicit. Maybe this is part of what Our Lord meant when he said we should become like little children.
Of course, it would be better to follow up our complaints to God with explicitly stated trust in Him. And the psalms are excellent models of how to do this:
Complain. Trust. Repeat.
—Senior writer Daria Sockey is a mother of seven who writes from her home in Pennsylvania.
Resources:
Comments
Page 1 of 1 pages
Posted by Kim on Friday, Dec 18, 2009 10:38 AM (EDT):
Thank you for this. I am going through a bit of a rough patch right now and often feel guilty for not embracing the suffering. I do know it will pass and I do trust in God, but I also have that selfish “why me” attitude as well. I’m glad to know I’m not alone.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
