Psalms of Assurance - Trusting in God's Faithfulness

I love that as a community of writers, we are naming our desires for the new year, which is much different than making a resolution or setting a goal. When we name our desires, we trust that it is God who places that desire on our hearts, and we do so with confidence that God can bring that desire to fruition.

What is your desire for this new year? As we step into this new year, what do you want? What do you really want?

I’ll be honest, as the calendar turned to 2024, it’s been hard for me to heed cheery suggestions of starting afresh, purging the old and making room for the new. Perhaps these niceties are based in “resolution” thinking. Desires require us to tap into something deeper.

Over the holidays, a friend shared with me that her mother-in-law was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer. “I’m afraid it is going to get worse before it gets better,” she said. Her words summed up my personal litany of lamentations – one friend facing unemployment, another one in the throes of grief, a broken immigration system plaguing our country, and so much more.

Back in October, exactly one week after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, I was scheduled to facilitate a webinar with a group of faith-based advocates. The day prior to the webinar, our team made a last-minute decision to forego our prepared agenda and focus on the unfolding situation in the Holy Land. We knew it would be important to spend some extended time in prayer, and without hesitation, I offered to prepare something. (And then promptly whispered, “Oh dear God, please give me the right words to say!”)

I sat down to compose a prayer, and a flood of words poured from my heart faster than I could write them all down. A litany of woes overflowed onto the page, inspired by images from the news that week:

 For people held hostage against their will: Lord Have Mercy

 For those making difficult decisions about whether to stay or leave: Lord Have Mercy

 For the swift delivery of food, water, fuel, and other essential items: Lord Have Mercy

As I put pen to paper, summoning God’s mercy upon the horrors of war, I imagined myself as the psalmist crafting a lament. Psalms of lament name what is real, and they plead to God with raw emotion. “How long oh Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1)

There is a certain catharsis to the psalms that allow us to wallow in anger, wail in grief, or curse our enemies. But the psalmist does not leave us in the pit of despair. Ironically, the psalms of lament conclude with words of praise, a confident assurance of what is yet to come, and a reminder that God’s steadfast love prevails even through the worst of circumstances.

In offering a word of comfort to our community of advocates, I found myself naming the promises of God scattered throughout scripture, along with a refrain of praise:

 You have heard the sound of our cries: Blessed be God forever! 

 Your mercies are made new each morning: Blessed be God forever! 

 You are the resurrection and the life: Blessed be God forever!

 You promise peace that the world cannot give: Blessed be God forever! 

These bookends of prayer – raw honesty and remembering the promises of God – are a timeless treasure for lifting up the needs of the world.

I sing of faithful love and justice.

As I allowed the psalms to inspire my desire for the new year, I recalled a line which drew my attention during Morning Prayer in mid-December. “I sing of faithful love and justice. I raise a psalm to you, O Lord.” (Ps. 101:1) If the final months of 2023 were one long song of lament, I want to begin 2024 with these words of hopeful praise! It echoes Psalm 13 from above, which concludes, “I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” (Ps. 13:5)

I sing of God’s faithful love, because amid a broken and hurting world, I need to be reminded that God is always with us. I sing of God’s justice, not because I expect the world to suddenly be healed of all its ills, but to be reminded of God’s generosity. By naming our desires aloud, we open our minds and hearts to what God already wants for us. I desire to trust in God’s faithfulness, because this new year will bring worse days and better days, and yet every day is an opportunity to witness to the wonders of God.

Going Deeper Together:

• Pray with Psalm 13 or Psalm 101

• Read the full text of Beth’s prayer: A Litany of Lament for the Holy Land

• Learn more about psalms of lament from Sister Donna Marie Herr, OSB

• Pray with the poem “Faithful Love” by Sister Joyce Rupp

• Reflect on Howard Thurman’s meditation “The Work of Christmas”

• Do you have any thoughts or reactions to Beth’s blog post? We welcome your comments!

Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash

Beth Knobbe

Beth Knobbe is an author, speaker, and ministry professional based in Chicago, Illinois. She earned a Master of Divinity Degree from Catholic Theological Union and serves as a Senior Trainer with Catholic Relief Services, engaging Catholics in living their faith in solidarity with the poor around the world. Beth is an avid traveler and is passionate about her vocation to the single life. Beth is the author of Party of One: Living Single with Faith, Purpose, and Passion (2011) and Finding My Voice: A Young Woman’s Perspective (2009). Her personal blog can be found at www.bethknobbe.com.