While writing this book, I spent some extended devotional time in the lament psalms. I started to memorize Psalm 86. Additionally, I printed out one lament a day and marked up the text as I looked for the four elements (turning, complaining, asking, and trusting). The thematic framework became like 3-D glasses, allowing life lessons and applications to emerge out of passages I’ve read many times. Once you start reading the Bible this way, especially the Psalms, you’ll find them speaking into loneliness, frustration, fear, mistreatment, and injustice. At the same time, they’ll give
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