We all get sad, angry, upset, or confused in our faith at times. Sometimes we look at all the injustice in our world and wonder how God could possibly allow it to happen. Sometimes we feel hopeless. We fail to see God at work in our lives and wonder if He has given up on us.  Sometimes we wish God could simply solve our problems, instead of letting us suffer.

For a long time, I thought it was wrong to lament against God. I thought we were supposed to praise God and be grateful at all times. It feels wrong to give in to our frustration regarding our faith. 

I was surprised to find there is a whole book in the Bible dedicated to lamentations, and numerous Psalms of lament. It seems God wants us to lament, not to encourage our anger and confusion, but to allow us to vent our emotions and make sense of them. God knows that we struggle and don’t always know the right answer. He wouldn’t want us to pretend like we never experience these things, because this is what makes us human. Therefore, lament is an acceptable and beneficial response to our suffering. 

When I began to dig deeper into the Biblical lament poems, many things surprised me. Here is an example from Lamentations 3:17-23:

my soul is bereft of peace;

    I have forgotten what happiness is;

>so I say, “Gone is my glory,

    and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness

    is wormwood and gall!

My soul continually thinks of it

    and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind,

    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

    his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

This is a very interesting lamentation, because it switches abruptly from deep lament to praise. This seems very weird to me, because when I am sad, angry, or confused, the last thing I want to do is praise God.

However, this pattern of switching between lament and praise is actually fairly common in Biblical lament poems. In the NRSV Bible that I am using, you will see the words “steadfast love” often in lament poems. This displays how, despite their suffering, the authors of these poems know that God’s love is a constant in their lives. Their struggles are temporary, whereas God’s love is forever. The one thing that gives them hope, the one thing they can always trust, is God’s steadfast love.

It is much easier said than done to trust in a God of unfailing love when we are struggling to have faith. However, we don’t have to fully understand how God’s love fits into all we are going through. All we need to do is lament. Just let God’s love wrap around us and hold onto us the whole way through.

– Holly Swiglo

Prayer

God, when we are suffering and struggling in our faith, help us to freely and openly lament. Let us allow your love to wrap around us and transform us through our lamentations.  We are so grateful for your steadfast love. Amen.