The Grace of Biblical Lament

“Lament is prayer in pain that leads to trust...” (Mark Vroegop)

As we sit in the tension BETWEEN ashes and beauty—that middle ground that is so very hard to reconcile—we see that God has given us a precious gift. The Psalms are God’s prayer book for his people. He has given us prayers to pray both individually and corporately in all situations. There are Psalms of rejoicing, of hope, and trust. But did you also know that over 1⁄3 of the Psalms are prayers of lament? Books like Lamentations, Isaiah, and Jeremiah are also full of lament prayers. These passages deal with the messy middle of life in a broken world. God has given us prayers to pray when we find ourselves in seasons of sorrow, grief, and pain.

When the tears won’t stop, we have a soft place to land in God’s Word. We find that we are not alone—saints before us have struggled with similar hard feelings. We find that God is not put off by our complaints and wrestling. We learn that God wants us to complain to him!

I cry aloud to the Lord;
I plead aloud to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out my complaint before him; I reveal my trouble to him.
Although my spirit is weak within me, you know my way.
Psalm 142:1-3

It is normal for humans to cry, to lament. Tears fall when we are hurt, sad, overwhelmed. But Biblical lament goes beyond crying. These prayers move us forward. Biblical laments always include stages and work towards trust. They don’t end where they begin—isn’t that so encouraging? These passages begin with struggle, questions, and even despair. The authors are honest about their reality—this hurts! I feel broken! I feel forgotten by God! How much longer must I suffer? These verses don’t sugarcoat pain but look it squarely in the face and declare it to be true. Pain is real and it really hurts!

But the lament passages sit in the tension of what the author is feeling and what the author knows to be true—that God is sovereign and that he is good. These verses admit reality but push forward for increased hope and trust. They say, yes, I am feeling pain here but I’m going to choose to trust your goodness, Lord!

Praying the Biblical laments is actually a great act of faith! It takes courage to admit the reality of pain and yet turn towards God instead of away from him. It is far easier to run from God when life hurts. Therefore, the foundation of Biblical lament is knowing God. If we don’t know that he is good, we will believe that pain is a punishment. If we don’t know that he is in control of all things, we will feel like our world is spinning out of control. So as we spend time each day knowing God through his Word, we are paving the way towards a firm foundation. When suffering comes and life shatters, we find at the bottom our God, who is the Rock of Ages. We can carry our sorrows to him because we know that he can bear the weight.

Biblical laments begin with pain and the reality of our broken world. But they don’t end there. They voice questions and doubts. They ask big things of God. And they close with a resolve to trust in him. There is always movement in the laments of the Bible. They don’t sit down in the messy middle and give up. They are honest about the ashes, but in faith, they believe that beauty can come from them. The Lord can take the most hopeless ruins of a life and bring great beauty and redemption. He is the God who restores!

Biblical laments are desperately honest. Refreshingly honest! And they are also desperately faith-filled. They call us to turn towards God with renewed trust in who he is and what he can do. And really, where else can we go when the bottom falls out?

We feel our weakness so deeply, don’t we? We need someone strong enough to bear the weight of it all. So, let’s pause in the messy in- between to welcome the grace of biblical lament into our lives. As we spend time reflecting on passages of lament in the Bible, we will push our hearts towards hope in the only One strong enough to bear the weight of such immense pain.

And hope sounds pretty good when life shatters, doesn’t it?

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Let’s pause in the messy in-between to welcome the grace of biblical lament into our lives, pushing our hearts towards hope—
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