summer-2025

the grace of lament

sea choi

lamentations

1/3 psalms is lament

WHat is lament?

• a loud cry, a howl, passionate expression of grief or sorrow
• biblical lament is more than just sorrow or walking through the stages of grief

Lament as a Christian: a prayer in pain that leads to trust. not resolutions, but trust in relationship with God

Why no lament?

• all Christians all called to be joyful (Phil. 4)
• lamenting doesn’t feel like trusting God
• we don’t know what is lament-able

God is good, but life is hard. Lament is rooted in what we believe.

“It is precisely out of trust that God is sovereign that the psalmist repeatedly brings …

Lament is the space between: Brokenness to God’s Mercy Pain to Promise Heartbreak to Hope

Where are you God? If you love me, why is this happening to me?

Lament is the path that leads us to praise, as we are led by God through our brokenness and disappointment.

what does lament provide?

language for loss. it provides biblical vocabulary and serves as a model for talking to God about our pain

solution for silence. lament opens the door for you to be able to talk to God again, even if it’s messy. Prayerlessness is deadly.

category for complaints complaining to God is not necessarily sinful

framework for our feelings validates pain while providing framework to avoid self-centeredness

process our pain more than just the stages of grief, it is a part of the processes happening inside your heart

way to worship grief-filled prayers of pain while seeking God are among the deepest expressions of God-centered worship

lament is a memorial of what was lost and broken and God’s faithfulness….

If we do not learn to lament brokenness in our lives, we miss out on another opportunity to worship God

How to lament as seen in the psalms

1. turn turn to God in your disappointments
   • to pray in pain is an act of faith
   • better than silence

Psalm 77:1-3

1. complain bring a complaint
   • not self-centered rage at God
   • not anger or denial
     • anger: bitterness
     • denial: projecting
     • tell God His promises back

Psalm 13:1-3

“A lament honestly and specifically names a situation or circumstance…

Stacey Gleddiesmith

guidelines for godly complaint: come humble

• come with your pain, not your pride be honest
• remmeber that you have a savior that understands pray the Bible
• we need the boundaries of Biblical language don’t just complain
• you must keep moving

“God I know you are not ___, but it feels like you are today.”

1. ask ask boldly
   • begin moving from the “why” questions…

….

Psalm 22:1-5

“Yet reminds us that sorrow doesn’t have to yield before we ask God for help. It invites us to pray boldly even when we are bruised badly.”

1. trust (form of praise) choose to trust
   • trust is believing what you know to be true even though the facts or suffering might call it into question

Psalm 13:5-6

The Psalms: God’s way of reshaping our desires and perceptions so they learn to lament the right things and take joy in the right things.

Jesus laments Jesus riding into Jerusalem

Luke 19:41-42

on the cross Mark 15:34

Psalm 22:1

“Let his tears banish your fears; yea, he gives you better encouragement than tears, for he has shed for sinners, not drops from his eyes alone, but from his heart. He died that… Charles Spurgeon

Revelation 21:4-7