I\u2019ve written a bit about this idea myself, on this blog<\/a> and elsewhere<\/a>, but Levenson gives it a twist that I had\u00a0never quite articulated before, but that seems so obvious to me now that I see it.<\/p>\n And the idea is this:\u00a0lament or complaint to God is an act of covenant loyalty<\/em>.<\/p>\n Bet you didn\u2019t see that\u00a0coming.<\/p>\n God stands by Israel even when they breach the covenant in the most egregious and defiant ways, and Israel (ideally) stands by God even when they plausibly accuse him of gross injustice, as indeed they do at times. . . . Covenantal\u00a0loyalty\u00a0includes\u00a0both a nonmoral loyalty [loyalty regardless of how the other behaves] and a passionaite insistence that the other partner live up to the terms of the\u00a0covenant\u00a0and make\u00a0himself\u00a0worthy of the gratuitous love he has\u00a0received.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The Love of God<\/em>, p. 55<\/p>\n Without suggesting that God and we are on equal terms, the idea expressed above works both ways.<\/p>\n The raw honesty of the lament psalms, for example (like Psalms 44, 88, 89), not only models for us the acceptability of such honest expressions of frustration, even disappointment and anger, with God\u2014although there\u2019s that. It is also an act of covenant loyalty\u00a0on our part\u00a0to God to do so.<\/em><\/p>\n To put it in marriage terms, if a spouse is not living up to the agreement, so to speak, the other is morally obligated by those very same terms to call him\/her\u00a0to the carpet. And doing so (genuinely, not naggingly) is an expression of one\u2019s commitment to the marriage covenant\u2014you expect the other to live up to their vow\u00a0and will let them\u00a0know when they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n So think about that the next time you are wondering, like a psalmist, why your life is shrouded in darkness and God seems either disinterested, unaware, or even complicit (Psalm 88). By getting in God\u2019s face and even \u201caccusing him of gross injustice\u201d you are actually expressing loyalty to the covenant; you are honoring God by showing respect for the covenant enough to say something.<\/p>\n Complaining to God is a\u00a0way of\u00a0standing by God. Sometimes it\u2019s all we have.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/peteenns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/k10560-193x300.gif\")
I recently read Jon D. Levenson\u2019s latest book\u00a0The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(see also here<\/a> and\u00a0here<\/a>), and would like to share another brief quote with you. It\u2019s about the idea of \u201clament\u201d or \u201ccomplaint\u201d in the Old Testament.<\/p>\n