Healing & Biblical Lament: Be Strong in Prayer

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. I am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest friends—those who see me on the street flee from me. I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. (Psalm 31:9-12, 24)

BE STRONG

This lament from Psalm 31 stopped me in my tracks. Those words, written so long ago, speak to my experience with chronic illness even today. Perhaps you can identify too?

I felt sad again over what I have lost as I read these words: My strength fails, my bones grow weak, the object of dread to my friends—all words I need to release in prayer to the one who is big enough, strong enough, and more than ready to love me as He listens to my anguish.

What I’ve learned so far on this journey is that chronic illness is hard. To travel this road well, we need regular infusions of hope.

Don’t we all struggle with feeling forgotten from time to time, as though we were dead? Chronic illness is exhausting and frustrating. It’s a thousand tiny yet sustained losses because what we often feel (though seldom recognize) is grief.

LAMENT HELPS WITH GRIEF

While acknowledging our pain, grief, and anger is necessary and good, we also need to find practical ways to see hope again. Reading the lament in Psalm 31 gives me the gift of sitting with God in the hard. It allows His Spirit to be the balm of my wounds, wounds which sometimes receive little attention as I spend more time caring for my physical condition. Perhaps it’s because physical pain screams louder, but our hearts and souls need care and treatment, too.

In the Bible, hope is the confident expectation of God’s promises. Its strength is rooted in God’s faithfulness. Yet often, getting to hope requires an arduous journey through the pain. The Bible offers many psalms of lament to help guide us through grief and to release what was, in order to embrace what is. I need practical ways of finding hope because, like many of you, I tend to step off the path when it’s too cold, when there is another health flare, when I’m tired from poor sleep, or for many other reasons.

BIBLICAL LAMENT HAS A HEALING EFFECT

Lament was a bit of a surprise for me; the simple idea of using David‘s words in talking to God has a healing effect on the broken pottery that resembles my heart. I am learning that Biblical lament:

• restores a sacred dignity to our suffering. Lamentations (an entire book in the Bible) was written for our benefit to see the hard (often undignified) wounding, disappointment, and anguish that the writers were experiencing to find dignity at the feet of God. If they can find dignity there, so can we.
• is a form of protest—a foot-stomping, gut-level honesty that helps us move through grief so we don’t grow bitter.
• provides a way to process our emotions with God. Lament is not complaining about God but to God. As ambassadors of God, we have the unique privilege of showing others that, regardless of what we feel, God is right there with us, guiding, holding, and sustaining us.
• is a place to voice our concerns to our Heavenly Father—all our concerns, even the ones we think we shouldn’t say. There are no shoulds or shouldn’ts with lament. All we need is a willingness to reach for the Father’s hand. He will guide us one step at a time, always pointing us toward hope.

BE STRONG AND TAKE HEART

As I hear Jesus whisper I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, as He walks hand-in-hand with me through the hard (intimately understanding what it means to live with distress, sorrow, grief, and affliction), I am encouraged to be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. As I rest in God, I can find peace and hope for the next step of the journey. I know I don’t carry my burden alone—and I needn’t look too far ahead.

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, grant us humility in our affliction and illness as well as courage to ask for help to receive Your mercies, new every morning. Where we depend on others, let us gratefully accept their help, graciously releasing any shame we feel about being the one in need. In those times when our bodies falter, help us to release the sadness, frustration, and deep anguish into Your capable hands, guiding us through grief on our journey toward hope, purpose, worth, and joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

• What words would describe your feelings and frustrations as you experience your strength failing, bones growing weak, or missing friends? Pray (say or write) those words to God.
• If you’ve ever wondered why God hasn’t healed you, have you expressed that to God? Why or why not?
• What would it look like to embrace your life (illness and all), to see the blessings of a smaller life, and to be closer to God?