Learning to Lament

One of the most truly beautiful things about Scripture is what theologians calls its sufficiency. This means that the Word gives us everything that we need to equip us for a life of faith and service. There is no part of your life, then, that Scripture will fail you in. In your sorrow and in your joy, in your failures and in your triumphs, the Word has something to reveal to you. There is no part of the human experience that God can't meet you in. In fact, God met us in our human experience in the most profound way through the life of Jesus.

It may be hard to believe sometimes, but Jesus, who currently sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, knows what it is like to be human. He understands what it is to feel sorrow, pain, tiredness, hunger, fear, joy, and thanksgiving. There is no part of your human experience that is outside of God's control. He will always understand you and He will always meet you there.

Yet, so many of us do not know how to express those real, hard, not so nice emotions when we are going through tough seasons. We don't know how to explain the thoughts swirling in our heads or the deep pain in our hearts. We just know we feel it. Sometimes it feels like it will swallow us up whole. Sometimes we want to turn to God, but we don't know how. Yet, even in that place, God meet us there and can reveal to us something that His Word teaches us.

In those moments of deep pain, sorrow, and fear, we need to learn how to lament. Lament is a word that means a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. A lament is a verbal expression of emotional pain. Modern day psychological research has shown that when individuals are allowed to process their trauma, they avoid defense mechanisms like denial and repression which ultimately undermine emotional health. What modern day research has shown is something that Scripture knew 3,000 years ago. That is, lamenting gives people the language to express their pain when one doesn't know how.

In Scripture, we see lamenting in many areas but it is with Lament Psalms that we, as believers, are given the framework for healthy lamenting.

This isn't to say this is as simple or easy. This isn't meant to minimize pain or trauma. What learning to lament does is teach us a way of expressing our pain and sorrow to God when we can't find the words. It teaches us to be real and vulnerable about what we are experiencing but also remember the character of the God we serve.

What is key to biblical lamenting is that after one expressed the negative emotion, that he turns to God in faith because he trusts in him. Psalm 13:5 says "I have trusted in your steadfast love." It is this act of trust that allows the person to not rest on the pain but put it into the sovereign hands of the Father. Through this lament formula, one can move from a place of sorrow, grief and fear and step forward in an exercise of faith.

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