Have you ever sat with someone who is grieving? What I mean is not simple grief, but the traumatizing grief of severe circumstances. If you have not, then Psalm 137 will sound incredibly strange to you. And if you read Psalm 137 like a text of Deuteronomy or a command of Jesus, this psalm will turn utterly horrifying in its final verses, with the psalmist delighting in visions of infanticide.
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But you are not reading a command of Jesus or Deuteronomy. You are reading the heart-cry of an exiled people, drowning in their sorrow. This is a people hardly keeping their heads above water, and they are filled with emotions and thoughts (like any of us would be if we were kicked out of our homes and forced into another country). They feel abandoned, powerless and are trapped in despair. "How can I sing songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?" This trauma is more powerful than attitude alone can cure- a round of "Jesus Loves Me" won't bring the people out of this slump.
And so this psalm turns from lament to utter rage. Rage is okay, it has its place in the grieving process. But the place of rage is not "venting." Recent research is showing us that venting does not help anger, but it fuels anger (click here). However, there is a place for brutal honesty with God, letting the authentic self come out before moving to the place you would rather be (peaceful, comforted, what have you). God can take it. So today, in your prayers, I would encourage you to be fully honest with God, then recognize in your words that God may be calling you to a higher place.
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