The Psalms of Lament in the Old Testament are special to me. They offer a language in which to address God honestly about pain. A “lament” is taking our pain to God and expressing our raw emotions. Faith isn’t the absence of grief, doubt or despair; rather, we exhibit trust in God by voicing our anguish to the One who created us, who loves us and who can restore us. (Psalm 13 provides a great example of a Lament Psalm. There, you’ll initially see David voicing doubts and frustration to the Lord. Then you’ll see how his lament shifts to a mindset of praise, even though his threatening circumstance didn’t change before he finished writing those words.)
Here’s an honest prayer that I wrote recently. I’ve prayed these words scores of times, or something close to these very words. Perhaps you can offer these words to the Lord as well.
Oh, Father, right now, despair envelops me. Hopelessness makes me think I’ll never smile or be happy again. It’s as if there is a high humidity in my heart that leaves me gasping for breath, sapping my energy, draining me of motivation for things I normally enjoy. I’m stumbling in the dark, afraid I’ll fall, without anything to light my path. The way I feel, I’d have to stand on tiptoe and reach way up just to touch bottom.
Yes, I can glance over my shoulder and recall numerous times that I’ve been bogged down in this mire of despondency. Indeed, I’ve “been there, done that,” yet every time You reached down and pulled me out of the quagmire. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I’m tired of the mood swings. Why can’t You keep me from falling into the pit of despair, at last some of the time?
But I still believe in You, Father, or else I wouldn’t voice these feelings to You.
Penetrate my darkness with Your light. Eclipse my weakness with Your strength. Replace my pessimism with joy and with a deeper trust in You that generates hope for the future. Keep reminding me of who You are, what You have done for me in the past, and what You have promised for my future. And if You keep choosing not to heal me of depression, please redeem it. Use it to wean me of self-sufficiency so I serve You in a way that can only be explained by the words, “God did it!” Let others see Your power working in, for, and through me so You, rather than I, get the credit for anything I might accomplish.
Father, I have nowhere to look but up, but show me why that is a great place to be. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, who Himself was “a man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3), Amen.
Quotes from My Reading
Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God. Without lament, we won’t know how to process pain. A lament reveals trust because, without hope in God’s deliverance and the conviction that He’s all-powerful, there would be no reason to lament when pain invades our lives. –Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament
Lament keeps us engaged with God. When we lament, we invite God into our pain so that we can know His comfort, and so others can see that our faith is real. Our faith is not a facade we erect to convince ourselves and others that pain doesn’t hurt. It is an oak tree that can withstand the storms of pain and doubt in our lives and grow stronger through them. –Vaneetha Risner, The Scars That Have Shaped Me
The next time you are hurting, try to put what you are feeling into words. Tell God what’s roiling around in your mind and heart. You may be surprised how your little bit of faith will break through the crust of your despair. After all, more important than the amount of your faith is the Object of your faith!
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