23 Jun 2026

A psalm of lament: a personal exercise

I am currently part of a small group at my church studying a book by W. David O. Taylor, Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life, published by Thomas Nelson in 2020. Chapters are devoted to honesty, community, history, prayer, poetry, sadness, anger, joy, enemies, justice, death, life, nations, and creation. At the end of the chapter devoted to sadness the author has given readers the following exercise:

Write out your own psalm of lament, following the basic pattern presented in the chapter on poetry. Write your complaint to God. Write a specific petition of God. Write a resolution to trust that God will hear and heed your petition in a timely fashion, even if it is not according to your timetable (78).

I decided to take up the challenge, using the pattern he describes and the poetic scheme typical of the canonical Psalms, including Hebrew parallelism and three rhythmic stresses in each line. Naturally much of the language draws on scripture itself. This is the result:

12 Jun 2026

Psalm 42: Men Sing Grand Rapids

And here is Genevan Psalm 42 from Men Sing Grand Rapids: