“These past days have been hard for many of us. Many people are experiencing shock, disillusionment, and loss of orientation. Many people are angry and hurting. We ask, “What is faith now? What is love now?” Friends and students are writing me for guidance. I feel unqualified like a blind man trying to lead the blind. It feels like spiritual exhaustion. 

Then a dear friend came to me and shared what his single mother of eleven children would often read aloud to their family: Psalm 42 in its entirety. It is one of the psalms of lament and begins, “As a doe longs for running streams, so my soul longs for you, O God” (42:1). 

I was immediately strengthened and “resourced,” leading me to a few days’ study of the longest and most read book in the Bible. I found seven psalms of lamentation that deeply spoke to my present experience, and perhaps yours, too. I offer them to you in hopes they might do the same. 

Exclusive reliance upon contemplative prayer in times like these leaves us almost too vulnerable now, too boundaryless, perhaps too shapeless. We need inspired words. 

Psalm 57 (Honest self-pity) 
Psalm 77 (A turning from Order, toward Reorder, and through Disorder) 
Psalm 86 (A prayer in ordeal) 
Psalm 102 (A prayer of complaint) 
Psalm 131 (Begging for a contemplative mind and heart) 
Psalm 146 (I told you never to “put your trust in princes,” whether Democrat or Republican, but only in God!) 

Finally, I share an excerpt of Psalm 42. Its words of lament comfort us and its message reinforces our trust in one another. 

As a deer longs for flowing streams, 
So my soul longs for you, O God 
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God,  
When shall I come and behold the face of God?  
My tears have been my food day and night,  
While people say to me continually, 
“Where is your God?” 
Why are you cast down, O my soul, 
And why are you disquieted within me?  
Hope in God; for I shall again give praise,  
My help and my God.… 
Deep calls to deep  
At the thunder of your cataracts;  
All your waves and your billows  
Have gone over me.  
By day the Lord commands God’s steadfast love, 
And at night God’s song is with me, 
A prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:1–3, 5, 7–8) 

Start reciting and praying at least one psalm a day, or as many as it takes. It might reconvince you that the Bible is indeed inspired and that we are not exhausted from our resources. “

Peace and every good,  
Richard 

P.S. I also recommend a serious fast from cable and internet news. The amygdala cannot process this much negativity, misinformation, opinion, and paranoia. It gets hooked. 

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