Our reading starts with a young Amalekite "chancer" coming to tell David of Saul's death. He has brought Saul's crown and armlet to David. It would appear, based on 1 Samuel, that he is lying about putting Saul out of his misery. He clearly expects praise for his actions. He gets none. Just the penalty due for destroying God's anointed King.
David has good reason to be relieved or even pleased about Saul's death, but he isn't. He was very close to Jonathan in his youth, but David's sadness is rightly for Saul too. A terrible thing has happened.
David's song of lament for Saul tells of his deep sadness. Read it carefully. Some of David's Psalms are also called laments. Used in worship, laments like this are a very powerful form of prayer. They are a way of crystallising the pain felt by the writer and the community using the lament in worship. Bringing that pain before God in word or song enables the community to bring their pain before God together and stand before him in it. It is not a way of bringing pain before God in private silence, but in corporate solidarity. With the pain owned and out in the open, God will bring healing.
The modern church does not often use lament (maybe the Sheffield Wednesday supporters should though) in worship. Perhaps we are missing something.
I have found a reasonably contemporary recording of a lament (1970). Have a listen to it by clicking on the link. Don McLean's Waters of Babylon is a lament from a later part of Israel's history but it is beautiful. Perhaps you could try writing your own to help you bring your pain before God next time you need to.
John Martin-Jones
Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 13:20-14:4, 2 Samuel 1:1-2:7, John 20:10-31
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