PODCAST
Finding Lost Amens
December 20th, 2011
RG AUDIO 122011Psalm 89:1-18
Do you ever lose your Amen? It may not be noticeable at first. Perhaps everyone runs some risk of squandering or misplacing this crucial note of praise. But when something so essential goes missing, do we drop down on “all-fours” praying to recover that absent Amen?
The initial stanza of Psalm 89’s prayer quickly establishes a refrain praising God’s steadfast love and faithfulness (vv. 2, 14). But reading to the end (vv. 46-51) of this prayer on subsequent days, some will be surprised when the psalmist says something rarely heard in contemporary churches. Encouraging us to also cry against the God to whom we cry out, the writer complains bitterly that the Lord’s love and faithfulness seems to have disappeared. So is prayer to be primarily praise or complaint? The answer is, “Yes!” But it can become our prayer too, a plea to God for fresh Amens this Advent.
