Introducing A New Series on Lament

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Luke 22:42

Rob got angry before I did. There is nothing righteous about my delayed anger. I simply worked through other emotions before getting there. And I did eventually arrive there. But anger was one of Rob’s earliest emotions when Alice was first diagnosed.

“Why would God let this happen? Doesn’t God love us? Where are you God? How does this line up with who I know you are?”

When you start to feel angry with God… how do you feel about that? Does it make you a little uncomfortable? Does it feel unfaithful? Does it make you feel ashamed or guilty?

One thing that we have learned is true: You can’t shock God. There is nothing you can say to him that will surprise him or diminish his affection for you.

If you are humbly bringing him your heart, he will only treat it with tender care.

Complaining to God is actually an important part of lament. Mark Vroegop, in his book “Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy” defines lament as “the honest cry of a hurting heart wrestling with the paradox of pain and the promise of God’s goodness”.

Lament is all over Scripture. Nearly 1/3 of Psalms are laments. Then there is the entire book of Lamentations, and good chunks of the book of Job. But there are also many individual examples of lament interwoven throughout stories in the Bible. One of my favorites is when Jesus himself laments to the Father right before his arrest (Luke 22:42).

Lament is held up in the Bible as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It is the offering of humble hearts to his divine care.

Over the next several weeks we are going to dig deeper into lament. We will break down the four components of lament, and I’ll share examples from Scripture to help you craft your own honest laments to the Lord.

The goal of this series is to grow our understanding of God’s deep mercy toward us and build our faith as we bring him the honest cries of our hurting hearts.

Reflection Questions:

1. What is your experience with lament? How would you define it?
2. What questions do you have about lament?
3. Consider reading Psalm 13 and write down what you notice about the journey the writer walks through.