As I was researching Paul and his use of lament as a way to process grief, I found a site that outlines all the times Paul used a psalm of lament while writing the book of Romans. There were 15 comparisons between Psalms and Romans in this list, and 11 of them were Psalms of King David. So I started thinking through a list of comparisons between David and Paul. King David was an unlikely king, chosen by God; Paul was an unlikely apostle, chosen by God. King David loved and grew the kingdom of Israel; Paul loved and grew the kingdom of Christ. King David wrestled with his sinfulness against the goodness of God in Psalm 69; Paul called himself the worst of sinners, with a list of his sins, in 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Both men knew how to lament. Both men knew how to praise.
In Romans 7, Paul is laying out an explanation for how the law shines a light on our sin. The law doesn't ruin our fun or our lives, it points out the sin that does. So Paul explains the problem of sin in us. He is transparent with his own struggles--he wants to do right, but doesn't. He doesn't want to do wrong, but does. In what turns into a sort of reverse lament (according to our Deuteronomy 26 pattern), Paul becomes agitated as he thinks and speaks the list of his sins out loud. So he cries out, to God, for rescue from his misery, sorrow, grief, regret. And then, to prove he knows his Old Testament, Paul hinges his lament on God, through Jesus Christ the Lord, the same stubborn, loyal, unwavering, loving God from eternity past to eternity future.
As we close out the week of individual lament, let's turn our thoughts to our own laundry list of sins. Think through them. Speak them. Hear them out loud. Paul's lament resonates with me...it's a daily (hourly, minute-ly....) struggle. I could easily get lost in all the wretched things of which I am undoubtedly GUILTY. I could lament all day, every day and never undo all I've done. I can't rescue myself. You can't rescue me. But thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. I will return to praise Him again and again for rescuing me.
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