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Lament: A spiritual tool to help us feel angry, be disappointed, and find radical hope.
There are 150 Psalms recorded in the Bible. Out of those, just under 50% of them have lament themes in them. That’s a lot of complaining and anger. What is a lament theme?
A lament theme is things like this “God, life is not fair and I am pissed off.” or “My God, why have your forsaken me?” or “I am filled with rage.”
These Psalms are human. So human. In many ways our Twitter timelines are like modern Psalms. They express our fear, anxiety, and our rage at injustice.
Something to note, Jesus was so human that on the cross he lamented, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me.” Even Jesus wondered where God was and was challenged in his hope.
The thing about a lament is that is lays it all out there to God in prayer. It doesn’t hold back in how angry one is at God, the people, presidents, or newscasters. The prayer of lament is honest.
After telling God the truth of the difficult feelings the one praying a lament has a turning point in the prayer that looks like something like this “Though injustice is all around, my hope comes from you, God, I will trust you will make a way.”
With the exception of a couple Psalms (like 88, that ends on a note of despair and not hope) most of them have a hint of “but I will place my trust in you God, though the injustices are all around me everyday”
Lament is a powerful spiritual tool to express rage, anger, and despair to God. Lament is a spiritual tool to move the heartache around and find some healing.
Lament is honest. Lament helps you move toward a radical hope to navigate this harsh life.
As you watch the news. As you read tweets from the President that piss you off. As you experience injustice in your own body. Get it out and lament. Write it down. Say it out loud. Bring your complaint to God which is about one of the most spiritual radical acts of trust.
#Lament well. Be as specific as you can in your complaint. Bring it to God. Lay it there before God. Return to radical hope.
