Have you ever had a great loss and all you wanted to do is scream? I have. Was your loss so awful that you lost all hope? I have. How do you express your losses? Have you expressed your losses to God in lament? Even so, did you still feel abandoned by God? I have and so had King David, Job, and Jeramiah. Let us look at the Bible and learn about lamenting before our loving God.
Just to make sure we all know what lamentations are, the definition is “the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping.” I know there are a lot of factors that may cause these things. For me, I found the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the death of a beloved pet etc., have all caused me great lament! The Bible has several different examples not listed above: Job in his physical health, the loss of his possessions and children all in a short period of time. David laments over his sin, the illness of his son, the continual attacks from King Saul and then his own son. Jeremiah laments for the sins of Israel.
I have had people tell me lamenting is not good and it is not in the Bible. I will tell you that the Bible has demonstrated lament in several places with several people. Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations. David wrote several Psalms of lament. Job is full of his lamentations to God.
I believe the speeches by Job are his lamentations before the Lord. Let us look at a few excerpts from those speeches. Job 30:9-11, and 31:9-12. And God’s response to Job in the end Job 42:7. These passages show me that sometimes in our lament we defend ourselves before God. I believe it is okay.
“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them. They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraining my presence. If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,”
“After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”(ESV)
Let us look at King David’s Psalms of lament. David says in Psalms 86:1-7
“Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.” David says startling things in this Psalm. He tells God that He feels like God has abandoned or forsaken him. This includes the idea that David feels like God is far away from him and he feels like God does not hear him. He then goes on to describe himself as a worm and he is scorned by men. However, David continues to acknowledge that God made him in his mother’s womb. He acknowledges that the Lord is his God, and he also praises God at the end. He sees that the praise he gives to God, comes from God. Ultimately David admits how all will proclaim God’s righteousness and all He has done. David is described in Acts 13:22, “And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’”
There are several other Psalms that you should read if you need to lament your pain to God. Psalms 12, Psalms 13, Psalms 22 and Psalms 44.
So, join me in realizing that it is okay to lament. Tell God about your pain. God will comfort you in the midst of your pain and will heal you. One day, He will make all things right. When you convey your laments to God you will receive hope from Him in the midst of your pain and struggles. Then you will be equipped to give hope to others when they are lamenting. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for my sins and yours as well. It satisfied all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because wisdom shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in choosing Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
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