In his book, A Sacred Sorrow,
Michael Card writes,
“Lament is one of the most direct paths to the
true praise we know we have
lost. In fact, lament is not a path to worship,
but the path of worship.”
--A Sacred Sorrow, 21.
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson
Jonah 2:7 (MSG) “When my life
was slipping away, I
remembered God, And my prayer got through to
you, made it all the way to
your Holy Temple.”
LAMENT
Liz Murray’s drug-addicted
parents raised her and
her sister in poverty in New York—really raised
isn’t the right word, they
had to care for themselves. Her father was an
intelligent man, quite gifted,
but lived a diminished life because of the
drugs. Her mother suffered from
mental illness along with her drug addiction and
was content to live from
one high to the next that she paid for with her
government check and prostitution.
What makes Murray’s story
remarkable isn’t her dire
upbringing—unfortunately, these stories are all
too common. Her story is
remarkable because she rose from these
circumstances to graduate from Harvard
and is the author of Breaking Night and the
subject of a Lifetime movie,
From Homeless to Harvard.
Liz Murray says, “When I let
myself experience my
sorrow and I did not resist it or cover it with
any distraction, another
experience surfaced. Willing to face my pain, I
began to see its inverse.
The invisible victories of my life came into
focus: the countless acts
of love toward my parents; getting myself out of
bed those mornings at
friends’ houses to go to school; earning a
paycheck that I used to take
care of myself; taking the hair out of my face
to risk eye contact; my
loving friendships; and every single day that I
kept on going, when I would
so much rather not have. Accepting my sorrow, I
then was able to accept
my strength in the face of so much loss.”
- Breaking Night, p. 319
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson
Lamentations 3:19-24 (CEV) “
Just thinking of my troubles
and my lonely wandering makes me miserable. (20)
That's all I ever think
about, and I am depressed. (21) Then I remember
something that fills me
with hope. (22) The LORD'S kindness never fails!
If he had not been merciful,
we would have been destroyed. (23) The LORD can
always be trusted to show
mercy each morning. (24) Deep in my heart I say,
“The LORD is all I need;
I can depend on him!’”
LAMENT
In Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash A
Revolution In Your Life
in Christ, Peter Scazzero writes, “Two-thirds of
the psalms are laments,
complaints to God. God grieves in Genesis for
having created humanity (see
Genesis 6:6). David wrote poetry after the death
of Saul and his best friend,
Jonathan, commanding his army to sing a lament
to God (see 2 Samuel 1:17-27).
Jeremiah wrote an entire Old Testament book
entitled Lamentations. Ezekiel
lamented. Daniel grieved. Jesus wept over
Lazarus and cried out in grief
over Jerusalem (see John 11:35 and Luke 13:34).”
--Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash A
Revolution In Your Life
in Christ (Kindle Locations 1532-1534).
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson
Psalm 60:1-3 (MSG) “A David psalm, when he
fought against Aram-naharaim
and Aram-zobah and Joab killed twelve thousand
Edomites at the Valley of
Salt. God! you walked off and left us, kicked
our defenses to bits And
stalked off angry. Come back. Oh please, come
back! (2) You shook earth
to the foundations, ripped open huge crevasses.
Heal the breaks! Everything's
coming apart at the seams. (3) You made your
people look doom in the face,
then gave us cheap wine to drown our
troubles.”
LAMENT
Eric Spiegel, a licensed
psychologist encourages processing
emotions by putting “words to what you’re
feeling.”
One way to do that would be to
talk to a friend or family member,
or a mental health professional. Another way
would be to have an open and
honest time of prayer with God and express
your pain to him. The Psalmist often
prayed his frustration and pain in the form of
imprecatory (or cursing) Psalms.
In authenticity, he clearly stated his pain,
giving it a name, offering the pain
to God. —Jim L. Wilson
