The Psalms of Lament
PART 2:   Psalm 13
How Long, O Lord?*

©2004 Sandra Glahn

Part 1 - Psalm 6   (PDF format)

Part 2 - Psalm 13 (PDF format)
- Shuffle the Deck
- Deal the Cards
- What Are You Holding?
- Group Option
- Play Your Hand

Part 3 - Psalm 27 (PDF format)

Part 4 - Psalm 44 (PDF format)

Part 5 - Psalm 69, 70 (PDF format)

Part 6 - Psalm 74, 88, 102 (PDF format)

"How to SPS"

"How to Lead a Group SoulPerSuit"

"Shuffle the Deck for Groups"

LAMENT
WEEK 1 - ½ or full page
WEEK 2 - ½ or full page
WEEK 3 - ½ or full page
WEEK 4 - ½ or full page
WEEK 5 - ½ or full page
WEEK 6 - ½ or full page

Supplies

Part 2 (top)

Shuffle the Deck (PDF version)
1) List 10 ways you find to be content.

2) Click to this page and print out the line drawings. Pick one and glue it into your journal or onto a piece of paper (or trace it). The image should be a minimum of 2.5 inches square, but you can make it as large as you like. Using a black pen, scribble a looping line over and around the image. Using crayons, markers, watercolors or colored pencils, fill in the new shapes with a kaleidoscope of color.

Eample of line drawings with scribble:

Example of finished colored scribble:

Deal the Cards
Read Psalm 13.

For the music director; a psalm of David.
13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? How long will you pay no attention to me?
13:2 How long must I worry, and suffer in broad daylight? How long will my enemy gloat over me?
13:3 Look at me! Answer me, O Lord my God! Revive me, or else I will die!
13:4 Then my enemy will say, "I have defeated him!" Then my foes will rejoice because I am upended.
13:5 But I trust in your faithfulness. May I rejoice because of your deliverance!
13:6 I will sing praises to the Lord when he vindicates me.

1. Tradition says that David wrote Psalm 13. We’re not positive, but there’s a good chance that’s correct. We don’t know the exact circumstances in his life that would have been behind his experience expressed in this psalm, but 2 Samuel 15:1-23 gives us the sort of story that could have evoked such a prayer. Read 2 Samuel 15:1-23. Then go back and look more carefully, identifying elements commonly found in prayers of lamentation.

2. How does the psalmist address God (1)? List the two ways he states his question (parallelism). More literally we could translate the phrases “How long, Lord, will you forget me continually? How long will you hide your face from me?”

3. What appears to be the psalmist’s primary complaint (v. 2)?

4. How many times does the psalmist ask God a question in Psalm 13? What does the psalmist ask (v. 3)? Why (4)? Note that the word “revive me” is more literally “Give light to my eyes.” Similar uses of “light” elsewhere suggest moral guidance.

5. Is there any evidence that God has answered (6)?

6. What expression(s) do you see of the psalmist’s confidence in God (v. 5)?

7. Did you identify with anything the psalmist said? If so, what? Have you ever felt like God was ignoring you? If so, what were the circumstances.

8. When God has delivered you, have you remembered to go back and praise him?


What Are You Holding? (top)
Your turn: Write your own private psalm of lament, pouring out your heart to God. Feel free to use or discard any of these elements. They are here only to give you a guide.

One person wrote, “Long enough, GOD—you’ve ignored me long enough. I've looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain.”

Remember times when God has delivered you in the past. Write a few lines of praise.

Group Option: As a group, agree on a common lament and write it out using these elements as a guide.

1. An introductory appeal:

2. The problem and how you feel about it:

3. Your request: what you want God to do:

4. Your answer from God (to be filled in when you receive it):

5. Your expression of trust/confidence (to be done both now and after he answers):

Play Your Hand (top)
Decorate a playing card or a playing-card-sized piece of paper or cardboard that expresses one of the following:

- an area of your life where you feel God is silent.
- how you feel when God seems silent.
- the “enemies and foes” in your life.
- what God’s deliverance looks like to you.
- your thanks for God’s deliverance.


Go to Part 3: Psalm 27

(top)
©2004 Sandra Glahn

We want your cards in the Lament Gallery! Take a digital picture or scan them in and e-mail the image to us. And please tell us about your card so I can include that also.

1. Appeal
2. Complain
3. Request
4. Response
5. Praise