By: Steve Loo
While many of us have gone through pain and trauma, the jury is out in terms of whether we have handled pain well. Pain is scary, and if we are honest with ourselves, we have not processed our pain well.
Biblical lament is the bridge between pushing our pain under the rug and pretending it’s not there, and being waylaid by our pain. You see, you can cry and vent while remaining apart from Jesus. But lament is crying and venting to get to Jesus.
Lament is a loud cry and passionate expression of grief. We see in the Psalms that these expressions of pain and suffering are honest, raw, even disturbing. In Lamentations for example, Jeremiah has hit rock bottom: “He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:16-18)
Ever complained like Jeremiah? But as you look closer, he’s not just complaining, he’s praying. He’s not just crying, he’s lamenting. Even though he vents deep pain, these laments turn into a pathway of renewed hope and trust. These are the crossroads that many of us are missing. It’s almost like we have to confess our hopelessness to bring us to a place where we can hope again. Jeremiah, in that same passage, moves from a cry of pain to an incredible cry of worship: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:22-23).
I never had a category for these laments. To be honest, they made me uncomfortable! I always skipped ahead to the promises. Or other times I wallowed in my pain. But as I learned that a third of the Psalter are written in individual and corporate laments, the more I began to see that the Israelites were a lamenting people. And Jesus Himself lamented on the cross, crying out those heartbreaking words of lament from Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” If our King used his last breath for lament, surely we are called to be people of lament until He comes again. And as I began to see this, the more the Spirit of God opened my eyes that these laments were not optional. To lament is a necessary part of what it means to be Christian. Not only do we need to feel the pain of a broken world that is estranged from His Maker, but we also see that this pain doesn’t have the final word in this world. Our pain gives way to the promises of God.
All of us feel pain. Some of us grieve. Very few of us lament, and then invite others to lament together. But for those who believe in the sovereignty of God and yet know the tension of a world with tragedy as the trending news each morning, lament is what helps us truly trust in a sovereign God who will put tragedy to rest. Hope, let’s invite others to lament in our pain just like Jesus did, and see if our pain gives way to a deeper and fuller worship of God.