Lament Series: Anchoring Our Hearts on God’s Good Character

We’ve come to the final component of lament. We’ve talked about turning our hearts to the Lord, pouring out our complaints and presenting our requests. Now let’s look at the concept of Anchoring.

Deep down, all of lament is built on trusting God. If we don’t trust him (somewhere deep down) then we never would turn to him in the first place. It would be foolish to complain or ask him questions. And it would be hopeless to ask him to do anything about our suffering. So even though Anchoring is considered the “final” stage of lament, I’d argue that it’s a crucial component of the entire thing.

When we look at Psalms of lament, we’ll notice that as the person moves through prayer, they eventually get to a place where they put a stake in the ground and proclaim certain aspects of God’s character:

Psalm 13:5-6 “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

Psalm 22:3-5 “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”

These are just two examples and they talk about:

1. God’s steadfast love
2. His salvation
3. The fact that he deals “bountifully” with us
4. He is holy and enthroned on the praises of his people
5. He is trustworthy
6. He delivers and rescues those who cry to him.

The psalmists worked through a lot of emotions, fears, and pain before getting to this point in their prayer. But they also didn’t stop their prayers at the point of their frustrations. They finished by anchoring their hearts, and reminding their minds, of what they know to be true of who God is.

We also get to finish our prayers well. When I am struggling to remember God’s goodness, I find it helpful to read Scripture and pray those words back to God. Or to ask a friend to pray for me and let her praise God for his goodness so that I can be reminded of those truths.

In the end, we want our perspective of suffering to be governed by the truth that God is good, rather than by our thoughts or feelings about our pain. Anchoring ourselves on what Scripture tells us about God will help us remain steadfast when life tosses us around. 

I’m praying for you as you think about these things, and as you practice the gift of lament. 

Jesus loves you more than you know.