There is a well-loved children's book*[i] about a young boy named Alexander who wakes up with chewing gum in his hair, and his day gets worse from there. At every turn, it seems to Alexander that he misses out, that others get what he wants, whether it be a toy in a box of breakfast cereal, a sweet treat in his lunch, or no cavities at the dentist. Alexander calls this his "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day". His solution is to move to Australia!
Have you had a day like that?
A day when five Ubers in a row cancel.
A day when the only place to stand on the metro is wedged between a man who bathed in body spray and a woman who ate an entire clove of garlic for breakfast.
A day when it pours with rain just as you leave work, and you step into a puddle.
A day when you get home, you discover the power is out, and the Swiggy delivery guy refuses to walk up the three flights of stairs and insists you must come down and get the five kg bag of rice you ordered.
When was your last terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?
Psalm 13 makes me think that David had experienced a long row of terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days. He begins the psalm by asking God.
"Oh Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day?"
Psalm 13 v1-2a
David had experienced so many terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days in a row that he wondered if God had forgotten him and questioned whether he was going to be lonely and filled with sorrow for the rest of his days.
Biblical scholars tell us that Psalm 13 is a Lament Psalm in which the Psalmist (in this case, David) cries out to God about his life's bad circumstances. About a third of all the psalms are Lament psalms. Lament differs from complaining in that in lament, we cry out to God, while in complaining, we cry out to someone other than God.
What always amazes me about Psalm 13 is that at one moment (in verse 4), David claims that if God doesn't rescue him right now, David's enemies will win, and in the next breath (verse 5), David trusts in God's steadfast love, rejoicing in His salvation and singing of a God who has dealt bountifully with him. It is enough to give you whiplash. This is what author Mimi Dixon[ii] calls a "pivot", and it is a common feature of the Psalms of lament—check out Psalms 3, 42, 44 and 63 for examples.
During the long dark days of the COVID-19 Delta wave, when it seemed all we did was lament, I learned the discipline of the pivot. Beginning at my front door, I would walk the thirty steps down my corridor crying out to God, telling him about my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad life. When I reached my back door, I would stop and deliberately pivot, remembering a truth about God. Some days, it was His love; other days, His mercy or His faithfulness; it was always something good about God of which I needed to be reminded. Walking the 30 steps back to my front door, I praised God for this attribute. When I reached the front door, I would allow my lament to rise again as I turned and walked back down the corridor. Some days, I did this process twenty or thirty times until God's peace found its way into my grieving and lonely heart.
Alexander's complaints didn't solve anything—they didn't change his circumstances, and as his mother points out, people in Australia have bad days, too. David's lament-pivot-praise process allows us to find God's goodness and peace amid our terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad moments. Even now, when I feel my lament edging into complaining, I stand up and begin to walk that sixty-step journey of lament, pivot and praise.
Your lamenting might happen while walking, journaling, or praying; your praise might be in words, song, or even like David in dance. This process of honestly opening your heart to God in lament, in choosing to pivot and in praising God's goodness is a balm in which your wounded heart will find healing and solace on your terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.
[i] You can read about Alexander's adventure in "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" day Viorst, J., & Cruz, R. (2009). Atheneum Books For Young Readers. You can hear it read at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hukeHQah4U
[ii] I was introduced to the concept of the pivot at an online retreat lead by Mimi Dixon in early 2020
