Learning to Lament: A 5-Day DevotionalSample

Learning to Lament: Prayer Loaded with Theology

Belief in God’s mercy, redemption, and sovereignty create lament. Without hope in God’s deliverance and the conviction that He is all-powerful, there would be no reason to lament when pain invaded our lives. 

Todd Billings, in his book Rejoicing in Lament, helps us understand this foundational point: “It is precisely out of trust that God is sovereign that the psalmist repeatedly brings laments and petitions to the Lord. . . . If the psalmists had already decided the verdict—that God is indeed unfaithful—they would not continue to offer their complaint.”*

Therefore, lament is rooted in what we believe. It is a prayer loaded with theology. Christians affirm that the world is broken, God is powerful, and He will be faithful. Therefore, lament stands in the gap between pain and promise. 

To cry is human, but to lament is Christian.

Notes:

*Todd Billings, Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2015), 58–59.

Learn more about Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament  by Mark Vroegop (Crossway, 2019).