Ever cried in your pillow? How about punched something (a wall, a tree)? Ever stood in a forest and screamed at the top of your lungs? Or stared out the window, but your thoughts were so far away, you didn’t see anything? Ever sighed from a place so deep inside that you wondered if there was any air left in your body? Have you ever waved fists up in the air, while stating your sorrowful case before God?
Ever lamented?
Though the Bible has ample examples of lamenting (the Psalms, Job, and, of course, Lamentations are full of lamenting), it is not something that we often see, or do, in our churches. I am not sure that church is the place where lamenting should occur, but the absence of this practice (at church) can make people think that it is not something that we should do … period.
Often our christian circles can be so … clean, happy, perfect …
UNREAL!
We are not living on the side of eternity, we are living lives in this temporal, sin-filled worlds, with sin-filled bodies and minds. We live lives of sorrow, disappointment, worry, sickness, heartbreak and agony. To live authentically does not mean we paste a smile on our faces and sing Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).
To lament is to pound our chests, and, with fountains falling from our faces, cry out,
“God, I hurt!”
“God, I don’t know where you are in this!”
“God, did you leave me? Because I feel so alone.”
“God, why did you allow my enemies to do this to me?”
“My God, why did you …
forsake (abandon) me?”
David lamented.
Job lamented.
Jeremiah lamented.
Rachel lamented.
Jesus lamented.
To lament is to powerfully, passionately voice our sorrow, our agony. To lament is to pour out your heart. To lament is to be the most real we can be. To lament to to come to the end of our rope … resulting in the abdicating of power, of control of ability to do it alone, anymore.
When we lament, we speak, we cry, we moan in the most pure and beautiful language to God’s ears. To lament is to be on our way to acknowledging that we cannot do it (life) without Him.
God can handle our laments … our God has broad shoulders, and he wants us to lay the weight of our world on them.
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