Lament
CRYING OUT TO GOD IN PRAYER
Pushing our pain aside, hiding it, or feeling shame because of it, diminishes our human experience. If Jesus wept and cried out in anguish, why do we feel it is somehow faithless to honestly express lament?
Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. (Psalm 130:1-2)
WHAT IS LAMENT?
Biblical lament is an honest, vulnerable expression of pain, a crying out to God in faith as we are suffering.
If I break my arm, I cry out in pain. If I experience the breaking of a relationship, my health, a job, or finances, I cry out in lament. Both are natural responses to pain. Both are valid human emotions. Yes, both are honest reactions. Yet we don’t often make room in our lives for lament.
The Old Testament Israelites sang about the full range of human emotion in the Psalms: anger, trust, sorrow, despair, celebration, fear, longing, thanksgiving, anguish, joy, loneliness, beauty, praise, protest, love, doubt, promise, pleading, weariness, gratitude, insecurity, and hope.
LAMENT IS WORSHIP
Lament was a daily part of their worship, woven through the fabric of their lives. Yet 2,000 years later, we’ve grown to believe that lament reveals a lack of faith or little trust in God. Instead of expressing it, we push it away or swallow it down – but refusing to acknowledge our pain doesn’t mean it slips quietly into the night. Swallowed pain swells beneath the surface of our lives, bubbling up and out as anxiety, impatience, frustration, or anger, separating us from God and sometimes sinking us into deep depression.
True lament isn’t an expression of weakness, whining, or self-pity — it’s an authentic expression of faith.
Pushing our pain aside, covering it up, or feeling shame because we feel it, diminishes our human experience. Even Jesus cried out in pain, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46b)
If Jesus, God in human flesh, cried out in anguish in the garden of Gethsemane and from the cross, if he wept over Lazarus’ death, why do we feel it is faithless to lament? Why do we fear embracing what God so clearly expresses in His Word?
HOW TO CRY OUT TO GOD IN PRAYER
Illness, pain, and grief are messy and complicated, yet God says, “Take heart.”
Give yourself permission to lay down the “shoulds” (what you think you should feel or express) and the “should nots” (what you think you shouldn’t feel or express).
Set aside some time and space to sit quietly with these words from the Psalms. Allow them to stir your soul. Read them slowly and permit yourself to feel. When you’re ready, try your hand at Writing a Psalm of Lament.
PSALMS • A PLACE TO BEGIN
CRIES OF DESPAIR
Psalm 130:1-2
Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord;
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
Psalm 55:1-7
Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
Attend to me, and hear me;
I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily
because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble upon me,
and in wrath they hate me.
My heart is severely pained within me,
and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me,
and horror has overwhelmed me.
So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
Indeed, I would wander far off,
and remain in the wilderness. Selah
Psalm 77:1-2
I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress,
I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands
and my soul refused to be comforted.
Psalm 102:1-7
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry for help come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
For my days vanish like smoke;
my bones burn like glowing embers.
My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
Because of my loud groaning
I am reduced to skin and bones.
I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.
I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof
FROM DESPAIR TO WORSHIP
Psalm 13:1-2
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 116:3-4
The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord;
O Lord, save me!
Psalm 57:1
Have mercy on me, O God,
have mercy on me,
for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the
shadow of your wings
until the disaster has passed.
Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
Psalm 5:1-2
Give ear to my words, O Lord,
consider my sighing.
Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
Psalm 88:1-3
O Lord, the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.
May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry,
or my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave.
Psalm 141:1-2
O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me.
Hear my voice when I call to you.
May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands
be like the evening sacrifice.
Lament
Biblical lament is a holy liturgy for processing our pain and grief that can deepen and strengthen our faith and trust in God, moving us from pain to praise. Lament is about staying present in our grief, wrapping words around our wounds, and sharing them honestly with God.
Coping with Grief
14 Ways to Make a Difficult Day Brighter • Grief takes time, but God is with us. He loves us beyond imagining, and He is gathering every heartbroken tear. Gratitude can become a beautiful thread in our grief journey. It doesn’t ease the pain or injustice of grief, but it does remind us that there is still good in God’s world, that God is still good, and that no matter how we feel, we are not alone.
Verses & Prayers for Those in the Midst of Grief
God’s Word is a healing balm to a heart shattered by grief. You are seen, known, and loved beyond imagining by the One who laid down His life for yours. May He comfort, encourage, and strengthen you as you grieve.
Sorrow, Lament & Breath Prayers for Grief
Grief is no stranger to those of us affected by illness and pain. Sorrow is unavoidable, individual, and a universally shared journey. But grief is also a precursor of hope and the catalyst for growth. Lament gives us the language to name our pain, creating space for hope without minimizing grief and trauma. Through lament, we learn to speak of loss, sorrow, and grief honestly with God, asking the hard questions without condemnation.
POSTS TO PONDER
Trust and Lament: Finding God in Sorrow and Worship
We often hide our pain behind smiles, yet God invites us to bring our sorrow honestly before Him. Lament is not the absence of faith—it is the language of trust. When we dare to voice our grief in worship, we discover healing, authenticity, and a deeper closeness to God.
Exploring Lament: Soul Care for Living Expectantly
At its core (even in the deep and the dark), lament fosters the knowledge of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Even from the depths of chaos, there is confidence and a deep sense of trust in God.
Vocabulary of the Heart – What Poetry Taught Me About Prayer
I believe the very work of writing a prayer as poetry takes us deeper into our hearts, giving a new vocabulary to offer our longings to God.
A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God In the Lost Language of Lament
Michael Card
Have you ever thought of lament — that sacred sorrow — as a form of worship? God desires for us to pour out our hearts to Him, whether in joy or pain. From the example of men and women in the Bible, learn how to recover this lost language and deepen your worship of God.
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament
Mark Vroegop
Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God—but it is a neglected dimension of the Christian life for many of us. We need to recover the practice of honest spiritual struggle that gives us permission to vocalize our pain and wrestle with our sorrow. Lament avoids trite answers and quick solutions, progressively moving us toward deeper worship and trust.
The Louder Song: Listening for Hope in the Midst of Lament
Aubery Sampson
When you’re in the midst of suffering, you want answers for the unanswerable, resolutions to the unresolvable. You want to tie up pain in a pretty little package and hide it under the bed, taking it out only when you feel strong enough to face it. But grief won’t be contained. Grief disobeys. Grief explodes. In one breath, you may be able to say that God’s got this and all will be well. In the next, you might descend into fatalism. No pretending. Here, you are raw before God, an open wound.
Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms
Glenn Pemberton
Giving new hope to the weary, this book brings insight, guiding readers to learn about the necessity of lament through the exploration of the Psalms. Many ask “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Let’s set this philosophical issue aside to consider the practical: How do believers live out faith in prolonged seasons of pain and loss? How can we live with God when it hurts–and continues to hurt?
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