Lament

“From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ’My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” 

Matthew 27:45-46

How do you pray when you’re not happy with God at the moment? Lament is a form of prayer. In the Bible, there are many examples of Lament. Many are found in the Psalms and we hear lament from the prophets. A lament is not just a complaint or feeling bad about the way something has turned out. Lament is a deep and passionate groan or complaint that comes out of a place of grief, despair or sorrow. Those are feelings that we may be reluctant to share with others, not wanting to pull people down into the depths of despair that we are feeling.

Prayer is a time when lament can be voiced to God without judgment. It may feel wrong to complain in prayer about how God has been managing things or to express doubt, but God is great and strong and nothing on this Earth can separate us from the love of God.

When I served in the military and even when I worked in a corporate office, the prevailing rule said that it was wrong to bring up complaints or problems without offering a solution. But there is something cathartic about voicing a lament or complaint even when there is no solution to offer. It may not be acceptable in the military or in business, but lament is completely acceptable in prayer.

It is okay to voice lament in prayer. If you have not spoken words of lament in prayer, I encourage you to try it. If we cannot find our own words to speak, we can use those we read in the Psalms. In Matthew 27:46 Jesus spoke words from Psalm 22 as He was dying on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

It is important to remember that toward the end of the Psalms of Lament in the Bible, the mood of the writing always turns toward hope. We speak words of lament and then, having given voice to those feelings, we turn toward feelings of hope rooted in the love of God given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.