Lamenting Estrangement, Psalm 69:8

I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons.
-Psalm 68:9

Psalm 68 is an individual lament.  Almost a third of the Psalms are laments.



The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible.


Lamenting is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.


Lamenting is a high form of worship.


Loss of family ties brings with it loss of identity (Don Williams, Psalms).

We have the greatest familial closeness with our siblings from whom we share the same mother.  Estrangement from them stings the most sometimes.


Lament is a form of worship and prayer.

Lament your estrangement, your alienation from your family.

Maybe you are alienated from your church family.  Where you learned faith, became a Christian, got discipled.  You are not there with them anymore.  Maybe you grew apart.  Maybe your journey called you away from what was home and kin and then you never returned and now and maybe for a long time you have been estranged.

Sometimes there is a fight and we part ways.  Sometimes things change and the relationships are not renewed.  There is apathy and then those ties that bound us are past history and no longer life giving.

Sad.  Family estrangement can be one of the most painful things.  Children cut ties with parents who are never given a reason. 

Sometimes brothers or sisters who grew up together and not friends.

Lament.

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