With 26 people killed in Newtown, 20 of whom were children, and 24 people killed in Moore, nine of whom were children, the irrepressible question is, “Lord, where were you when calamity struck these two communities?”
The psalmist is helpful in a time like this because we can find expression and release for our innermost feelings in his own outpourings of emotion during hard and painful experiences.
Repeatedly throughout the Psalms, he complains about the absence of God. Why have you abandoned your people? Why don’t you wake up and act in behalf of your people? Why don’t you respond to our prayers for deliverance? Why do you allow bad things to happen to good people?
Yet in his outcries something redemptive happens. For just as he repeatedly vents his feelings over his sense of God’s absence, he repeatedly remembers the times God was obviously present, acting to help and save. So that, even in seemingly godless situations, the psalmist can nevertheless voice belief that God remains with the weak and the needy, and, in so confessing, regain hope
The Psalms of lament can serve us well as we wrestle with our emotions in the aftermath of Newtown and Moore. For from them, we learn that we can rightfully bring to God whatever we feel about him, and that the very act of venting our frustration and despair can lead to the restoration of perspective and renewal of faith.




