I Can’t Lift My Head

When I am oppressed Pushed down When I can’t lift my own head When I am controlled Held back When I can’t go my own way When my enemies are winning With cheers When I can’t celebrate When I am destroyed I’m done God, hold me up Fight for me today Push on God, guide me through • Emily Acker • Do you ever feel like the author of this poem? What makes you feel that way? • How might it comfort you to know that, even when we feel trapped and depleted, God is our strong helper? • Jesus knows all our hurts, and He hurts with us. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, He is with us even in our darkest moments through His Holy Spirit inside us. And He invites us to bring our hurts to Him in a practice called lament. In lament, we tell God what hurts and express all our anger, fear, hurt, and frustration and we ask Him to do something about it, trusting in His unfailing love and resting in the knowledge that He will act—either now or when Jesus returns to make all things right. We can find examples of lament in the Psalms (Psalm 13, 38, 42-43, 88, 130, and many more), in Jesus’ prayers (Luke 22:41-44), and in many other places in the Bible. Because Jesus went through hurt, He can empathize with us and heal our hurts. Because of what He has done for us on the cross, Jesus is our refuge. Take some time to lament to God, being honest with Him about your hurts and resting in His love. The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Psalm 9:9 (NIV)