By the waters of Babylon,there we sat down and wept,when we remembered Zion (Ps. 137:1, ESV).
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me? (Psalm 13:1, ESV)
Sorrow does not take holidays. Trials do not consult our convenience in scheduling or work around highlighted calendar squares. Festivals, birthdays, and anniversaries are not immune to suffering. In fact, they may intensify it through discordant contrast.
Thanks for reading crumbs from His table fellowship! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Rejoicing is not the only appropriate emotional response to the life circumstances God assigns us. He has also given us lament as a means of reorienting our griefs in His presence as worship.In the face of catastrophe, faith does not demand that we put on a plastic smile when our hearts are breaking. God does not desire us to be false with Him. Grief is a spiritual discipline, too, and at times the only right and appropriate response.Godly grief expresses itself in the laments of Scripture. Job's speeches and Lamentations fall in this category, and individual or corporate lament is the largest subcategory of the Psalms (which fall under the broader heading of lyric poetry). Scholars estimate that at least a third of the Psalms express lament; a few examples include Psalms 13, 22, 40, 59, 74, 88, and 109.The Thomas Nelson Study Bible describes Biblical lament this way:
In the lament psalms, we hear the strong, emotional words of sufferers. These are words written by real people in very difficult situations. Sometimes the forcefulness of the psalmists' complaints against God is shocking. But these godly sufferers know that God will not be angry with their honesty, for even when they scream at God, it is a scream of faith (887).
These are the prayers for the sleepless nights and weary days, for the seasons when we feel like Bilbo Baggins, "too little butter spread over too much bread," for the days which seem more Romans 7 than Romans 8, for emergency shelters, hospital rooms, divorce courts, and funeral homes. The sheer multitude of laments in Scripture bears witness that hardship is a commonplace in life in a broken world, yet God desires to fellowship with us in the midst of suffering as we cry out to Him. What is more, lament Psalms offer us a guide for how to do so and give us words when we have no words.Although no strict pattern applies to every lament, common elements include
* an initial cry to God,
* the list of complaints,
* a profession of reliance on God,
* a presentation of reasons God should intervene (such as past covenants, promises, and actions that shape the psalmist's expectations of the future),
* specific requests for deliverance and action, and
* a resolution to praise (TNSB, 887, and Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature, 114-115).
These elements may occur in any order or repeat, and some may not appear at all. Psalm 88 never turns the corner from lament to praise, which gives me comfort and confidence that I don't even need to pretend to or force an emotional pivot point before God. Lament doesn’t need to be pretty, only to be honest and Godward.
People, even those closest to us, may lose patience or turn away from our grief. Our dearest friends may not be able to understand our distresses. Only the Lord promises never to leave us or forsake us in our fiery trials. Only He truly understands (and that better than we can understand ourselves). Only He never tires of listening to our litany of complaint, sorrow, shock, betrayal, loneliness, pain, and even anger. Only He can not only listen but infuse us with strength to endure.
In a mysterious transaction I cannot explain but have experienced, our unbearable sorrows become survivable and even precious as we share them with Him. The fellowship of Christ’s sufferings is real. Part of the particular blessing of the mourner comes in the preciousness of His presence in the midst of the pain. He shares our tears until the day when He will wipe them away forever. He bandages our broken hearts until the restoration of all things, when there will be no more night, no more death, no more tears, when grief becomes glory in the presence of the Lamb.
When we cry to our Lord in a dry and barren wilderness where there is no water, no sustenance, He brings forth water from the rock and scatters manna like dew drops to carry us through one more moment. When He doesn’t give what we want, still we can trust Him.
He can take all the ugly emotions we bring to Him. The important thing is to bring them and keep bringing them.
That said, students of Scripture may observe that Israel incurs God's displeasure and discipline when they whine and complain. What's the difference between grumbling and lament?
In my understanding, there are at least four areas of difference:
* Audience: Grumbling speaks about God to other people; lament addresses God directly in prayer. This resembles the difference between gossip and conflict resolution.
* Content: Complaint disputes God's previously revealed character; lament seeks to reconcile God's character with circumstances that seem to contradict it.
* Attitude: Grumbling stems from a heart of unbelief; lament worships in wounded faith.
* Result: Whining produces rebellion; lament limps forward in obedience as best it can.
Amid all the disasters and crises in the daily news and the personal trials facing friends, family, and ourselves, it comforts me to know that I can pour out my heart like water before the Lord (Lamentations 2:19) and mourn with Him as well as dance for joy. Learning to lament set me free to do that, even writing my own laments based on the patterns above. I have found the Psalms of lament to be helpful guides to prayer in times of trouble. May you also find blessing in practicing and praying lament as you grow in relationship with God in the hard times as well as the glad.
Recommended Resources:Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature
Michael Card teaching on lament as worship in 7 parts
My review of Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop
Thanks for reading crumbs from His table fellowship! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
