Lament

When was the last time you were so grieved that you began to cry out for justice? When was the last time you were so grieved that you cried out for mercy? If this has happened to you, then you have lamented before. Lament is a funny word, and rarely used today. We prefer words like grief and mourning, which are part of lamenting, but there is more to this funny word.

Lamenting is being grieved and mourning to the point of action and crying out. It is not a passive grief, but an active one. Lamenting is difficult. It is uncomfortable. It is honest and bold. It is hopeful, and it is rooted in deep faith in the triune God. For many of us in Christ, we must recover the discipline of lamenting. (I do not say all here, because there are many in Christ today in America and around the world who came to Christ in lament. The story of their lives is one of lament, but many Christians in America have mostly lived in comfort and security and struggle to understand lament.)

Lament as a Discipline

Why would I call lament a discipline? After all, isn't lament an emotion? Yes and no. Lament is rooted in emotion, but as I stated above it is not passive. We feel grief for many things, but there are levels to our grief. For us to lament, we must sit in grief awhile. This is very un-American. We don't have time to grieve and mourn. If we are to ever experience this active grief (lament), we must discipline ourselves to slow down, pause, reflect, mourn, grieve, cry out, and act.

On Sunday, 26 people were shot and killed at First Baptist Church Sutherland Springs, TX. Another 20 were injured, and then the gunman was found dead, too. This horrific evil gave way to many emotions across our land, but by this time next week we will have collectively moved on. Oh we'll still debate guns and point back to this tragedy and others, but we will have moved on. Grieving is done, and now is the time for action. We will do so with great intentions, but will not realize that this will hurt more than it will help.

Lament forces us to slow down, take in all that has happened or is happening, listen, weep, feel grief and pain deeply, and then cry out to God for mercy or for justice. Lament forces us to look inward, and confess sin in our lives. It forces us to ask questions that we don't have answers to, and this is extremely uncomfortable. Lament draws out our doubts, our fears, and our idols. Lament humbles us, because it is in lament that we are acknowledging we don't have answers. We cannot fix this. We need God to act. When we sit long enough in our grief, we become very aware of how dependent and desperate for God we really are, and this is un-American.

We are a nation of independence. A nation of pride. A nation of "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." A nation with solutions and answers, and a nation that regularly numbs itself with entertainment and sports. We do not have time for lament, because time is money. We do not have time for lament, so we'll throw money at "good causes" and trust that those organizations will take care of it. We grieve and we have compassion, but we do not lament.

However, as a kingdom people, we must lament even though everything in our culture opposes it. We must discipline ourselves to lament in times of tragedy, suffering, pain, loss, darkness, and brokenness. We, like many in the Bible, need to learn to cry out to God, and ask Him to move. We need to learn to weep over our broken world. We need to learn to connect deeply with those suffering injustice, those suffering loss, those suffering pain and great sorrow. It will not come easily, but nothing of value does.

Lament is Active

When I say lament is active I mean this in a couple of ways. One way will not be seen as active by many, but it is active. The other is clearly active. We'll see the upward activity of lament, and the outward activity. Let's look at the two ways I mean lament is active.

First, lament is active because it causes us to cry out to God for justice or for mercy. This is the upward activity of lament. (Side note: I keep saying "for mercy or for justice" for a reason. Many in the Bible lamented, and when they did sometimes it was because of an injustice they were suffering, and at other times it was a cry for mercy for justice being enacted upon them.) When we truly lament, we cannot remain silent. Our faith in God and the grief and sorrow we feel leads us to plead for God to act. This is not anger or rage at God, this is bringing a complaint to God in faith with hope. Lament is actually a sign of spiritual maturity. It is not a temper tantrum, rather it is an acknowledging before God both who He is, that something is broken or evil, and that God has the power and authority to change, redeem, heal, transform, and/or destroy it.

The reason I say many will not see this as active is because many see prayer as passive. This would be true if God didn't really exist. In fact, it wouldn't only be passive it would be pointless. It would not accomplish anything, and, unfortunately, this is the case for many who say they are praying for ______ tragedy. We don't really pray because deep down we don't believe God will change anything.

"Praying for you" has become a cliche, and is used in many different circumstances. I am guilty of saying this multiple times, and then not actually praying. I am also guilty of praying once for something, but talking about it like it's something I am laboring over in prayer. Prayer is labor, and it is the worst of kind of labor for a people who want to feel like they have done something. Praying is un-American.

As kingdom people, we must commit to the hard work or prayer in lament. When we gather as the church, it should be a safe space for God's people to lament. It should be a safe place for us to cry out, "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" (Psalm 13:1) It should be a safe space to cry out, "O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us." (Psalm 60:1) It should be a safe place to cry out, "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!" (Psalm 130:1-2)

We must pray prayers of lament, and sing songs of lament. It is good for our souls. We believe God is sovereign, so let us pray prayers and sing songs consistent with what we believe. Prayers and songs of lament are some of the greatest testimonies to the gospel we have. In Christ we have access to God by the Holy Spirit. We can come with full confidence that we will not be rejected or condemned. So bring your pleas for justice and mercy. Bring your cries of desperation and dependence. Bring your pleas for God to act for his namesake. Bring your fears and doubts and anxieties, and cast them upon him. This was purchased for you by the blood of Jesus Christ. You have full access to the God of all creation! Prayer is not passive.

Second, lament is active because it calls us to act in accordance with our faith. This is the outward activity of lament. I said earlier that lament is rooted in deep faith in the triune God. We lament that God's kingdom is not fully and finally here. We lament that Satan's counter kingdom still has power in our world. We lament the culture of death and violence in our society. These things do not bring glory to God, and we should be grieved that God is not honored in our world. Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9-10)

We pray to our Father, which is an enormous statement in and of itself. We pray his name would made holy. We pray for his kingdom to come. We pray for his will to be done. And we pray these things for here on earth as it is in heaven. We plead with God to bring justice where there is injustice. We pray for God to bring restoration to what is broken. We pray for God to bring healing to deep wounds and sickness. We pray for God to bring life from death. We pray for God to bring peace where there is turmoil. We pray for God right the wrongs. We actively pray to God, and we actively work with our head, heart, and hands to see his kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We are not passive in this world. We were created for this world. We were commanded to rule and reign over it like God rules and reigns over all things. We are to call evil what it is...evil. We are to be a voice for the voiceless. We are to plead for justice where there is injustice. We are to confess and repent of sin, and serve as ambassadors of reconciliation in this world, both to God and to one another.

When we take the time to lament, we become more aware of the depths of our human depravity. We become more aware of our own depravity. We confess sins we never knew we had, and repent that we may become more like Christ. We become more submissive to God. We become more humble. We become more in tune with the heart of God. We become more compassionate. We're better able to carry the burdens of others. In short, we live what we believe because our lament is full of hope and trust in God, who will act for his glory and our good.

Close

I want to close by urging those of us in Christ to recover the disciple of lament in our lives, our friendships, our families, and our churches. Suffering and pain are a constant in our broken world, and the Lord is not silent on the matter. Neither should we. We need to bring our pain, our sorrows, our questions, our fears, our doubts, our frustrations, our grief to God in lament, and live by faith day by day in Christ because we can say with Job, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth." (John 19:25)