How honest are you these days in your prayers? Are you letting God know your pain and sorrow over everything that is occurring in your life and the world around you? The loss of jobs? The protests? The politics? The distance between families? Watching the news and facebook feeds can make you lose hope.
However, the Bible is full of songs of sorrow. It is a uniquely Christian way to approach grief and sorrow. Lamentations are a book full of laments. Jesus lamented before He went to the cross. Many of the Psalms are examples of ways to talk to God about your pain and sorrow. The lament prayer is designed to let God know exactly how you feel and yet know that He is still there through it all.
Laments turn you toward God when sorrow tempts you to run from him.Mark Vroegop
Lament with the Psalmist
Psalm 13 is a great example for us to follow in a lament. We are to
- Turn to God
- Share your complaint
- Ask for His help
- Affirm your trust in Him
In this Prayer of Lament, The call of mourning and lament, * you can see all four parts in Psalm 13.
Lord,
We cry out to You across the land
How long must we struggle with anguish in our souls?
Turn and answer us, O Lord our God!
Restore us to You, or we will die
Don’t let evil win or defeat us
But we trust in Your unfailing love
We rejoice because You will rescue us
You see us as we pray
We will sing to the Lord
Because He is good
Help us keep our eyes on You
Show us Your path
Show us how to act justly
Love mercy and
Walk humbly with You.
Amen
There is much tension between yet and not yet. However, by expressing our pain and sorrow, we can trust God to help and look for His ways and His path for the next steps or even to wait on Him.
Wait with hope
The thing about lamenting and waiting is that as Christians, we wait with hope.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4, ESV)
We don’t have to wait in despair. In the long view of things, we know how things end. And that brings the lament to trusting in God. You and I can tell Him everything and then hope and trust.
What about you?
What do you need to lay at the feet of Jesus? Lamenting, even like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane is important, Jesus prayed:
He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Matthew 26:39, NLT)
Jesus trusted God for the bigger picture and that is what lamenting lets you and I do, trust God for the bigger picture and have hope.
I am lamenting and listening to God with you in these challenging times. I have been asking people how I can pray with them.
I am asking you,
How can I pray with you? Please reply to this email and allow me the privilege of lamenting with you during these times.
I loved this. It’s very helpful. There are a lot of things going on; but we can trust in God to take care of us. Thank you for this message.
I loved this line – “There is much tension between yet and not yet.”
Marty, thanks for responding. I am glad it was helpful for you. We can so trust Him, we, myself included just need reminding, right? Blessings to you and all your family.