“Dad, I’ve been in an accident!”
Few words are more terrifying to a parent than those. I soon discovered that neither she
nor the other driver or her passenger was injured. Thankfully, It was a minor wreck. But
it played havoc with my schedule and patience for the next month as I wrangled with
insurance companies and repair shops to the point of anger.
For those 30 days...any attempts at living a sustainable life were out the window.
Trouble does that. Trouble, pain, sadness, tragedy all keep us off kilter.
Sometimes it is the minor and in the long run ultimately insignificant...a turned ankle, a
bent bumper, a lost credit card, a poor grade on a test, a sinus infection
Other times – it is tragic, soul shattering, life upending loss...a death, an addiction, a
divorce, a job loss, a 9/11,
The fact is...trouble happens
...man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
Job (Job 5:7)
The length of our days is seventy years-or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Moses (Psalm 90:10)
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day
has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus (Matthew 6:34)
Trouble, pain, tragedy, loss happens and if we were honest we have to admit to walking
around with a low-grade fever of sadness that saturates our life.
This low-grade fever of sadness can drape over our souls like a heavy blanket and
make us trudge though life without purpose and joy.
When the sadness dominates or tragedy strikes any thought of living a sustainable life
goes out the window.
- You can’t even get out of bed in the morning let alone spend time with God
- You are so busy putting out the fires of the trouble that slowing down is a joke...pace
picks up in times of trouble
So...we must start here with our talk of sustainable living.
Pain and tragedy and sadness being inevitable... we must figure out a way through
them.
· are there some pre-emptive actions we can take? Some patterns to establish to
combat the low-grade fever?
· And for those in the throes of it...is there a way out?
I believe there is: prayer....but not just any prayer...but
...the kind of prayer that replaces self-absorption with God-intensity. We need
something large enough to give our life breathing room and ample space for a variety of
circumstances and moods”
Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant
A kind of prayer that is “dominated by a sense of God”. He goes on to suggest that God
has provided for us a great school in which to learn how to pray these kinds of prayers :
the collection of prayers known as the Psalms.
I want to show you one of those prayers....in the book of Jonah
Jonah page __________
Psalms is a collection of songs and poetry – most of them actual prayers written by
people like David and Moses and others.
These songs were recited or sung for hundreds of years in tabernacles, temple and
homes - memorized and prized by the people of God.
One of those people who became quite conversant in the Psalms was a prophet named
Jonah. Just how well he knew his Psalms you’ll see in a minute.
The short story of Jonah: told by God to go and declare judgment on the city of Nineveh
– he says no – runs away from God – gets tossed overboard in a storm – and is
swallowed by a great fish..
..talk about your low-grade-fever of sadness! Talk about an unsustainable life!
And recorded in Chapt. 2 – we find a prayer he prays in the midst of the terror...
Jonah 2:1-10 (NIV)
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the L ord his God. 2 He said:
"In my distress I called to the L ord ,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the deep,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit,
O L ord my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, L ord ,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the L ord ."
Pretty amazing spontaneous prayer wouldn’t you say? But it wasn’t spontaneous at all.
But...this was no off the cuff prayer – he was reciting something he had learned!
There is ample evidence that this was a prayer cobbled together from at least 9 different
Psalms (3,5,18,30,42,69,120,139)
Jonah had gone to school in the Psalms...for years , he had done his homework,
and now when he needed it – it was there.
His years of immersion in the Psalm prepared him for the day of sadness ...and it
sustained him in the worst trouble of his life.
Jonah is a great illustration that proper prayer keeps life sustainable even when all
seeks to undo you.
So here is the take away...
Learn the language of prayer today so that you will be prepared to live through the low
grade fever of sadness and face the inevitable troubles that are to come.
The language of prayer: (as illustrated in the Psalms)
Lament
Thanksgiving
Resolve
Lament- to cry out to God with our doubts, grief or anger
3 You hurled me into the deep,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished
from your sight;
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
Lament has the potential to change a heart. It compels a search, strips the heart of
pretense, and forces us to wrestle with God.
A person who laments may sound like a grumbler-both vocalize anguish, anger, and
confusion. But a lament involves even deeper emotion because a lament is truly asking,
seeking, and knocking to comprehend the heart of God.
Dan Allendar
Listen to the radical lament of Psalm 44:
...you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.
...for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?
We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
Rise up and help us;
(excerpts from Psalm 44)
Lament allows us to name the trouble of our lives, it is honest about the low grade fever
of sadness...and helps us wrestle with God about it. If you are sad or depressed or in
deep agony – study the Psalms and learn the language of lament.
Thanksgiving – to offer to God our gratitude for who He is and what He has done.
1"In my distress I called to the L ord ,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
4 yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.'
6 But you brought my life up from the pit,
O L ord my God.
In one sense this is a ridiculous prayer...on what did he base this confidence? Nothing –
swimming in fish vomit does not breed assurance – but years of noticing the works of
God does.
Gratefulness is born of a prayerfulness that helps us notice the marvels of God
Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust
Gratitude is attentive....as we practice gratefulness and notice God more...in those days
when the sadness overwhelms we will have a closet full of evidence that God is there
despite evidence to the contrary!!!
Prayers of thanksgiving are the rehearsal for when you will truly need them and God.
Resolve – commitment and promise
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Where does a guy get the nerve to make such promises when he is surrounded with
such terror?
He had practiced resolve many times as he went to school in the Psalms:
Psalm 119:87
They almost wiped me from the earth,
but I have not forsaken your precepts.
Psalm 119:106
I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
that I will follow your righteous laws.
Psalm 119:112
My heart is set on keeping your decrees
to the very end.
It’s why you make vows when you get married...you make resolutions when it is
easy...so that when the bottom falls out you can stick by your commitment.
(Theoretically)
Look, you and sadness are joined at the hip. Tragedy, trouble and terror are
unfortunately a part of life... and you suffer serious disruption to any efforts of living a
sustainable life if you don’t begin to learn the language of prayer – starting right now.
Learn the language of prayer today so that you will be prepared to live through the low
grade fever of sadness and face the inevitable troubles that are to come.