A powerful type of prayer is a prayer of lament. This is crying out to God with our sorrows and grief. Psalm 88 is one of the saddest and most dismal chapters in the Bible. The writer expresses feelings of being overwhelmed, cut off, forgotten, grieved, rejected, terrified, and despaired.
Sometimes, we are ashamed of our feelings and don’t take them to God, especially when we see them as negative feelings, like sadness, depression, and hopelessness. We think that if we have faith and believe in God, we should always be happy and joyful, but this could not be further from the truth. Following Christ does not exempt us from negative feelings. In fact, Jesus told us Himself that in this world, we will have trouble (John 16:33). Don’t you think then He also expects us to feel some kind of way about that?
With God, we don’t have to be fake; this is why we’re told to cast our cares and anxieties on Him (1 Peter 5:7). The Book of Lamentations is all about pain and suffering. Although we have hope in God, as humans, we will get sad, depressed, and dismayed. The blessing we have even in that, is that we don’t have to keep it bottled in like our feelings don’t exist or matter because they do and God cares.
Pray: Heavenly Father, thank You for inviting us to bring our sorrows and grief to You. Help us to be honest in our prayers and trust that You care deeply for our feelings. Strengthen us and draw us closer to You through our cries and laments. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Reflect: How has lamenting in prayer helped you process your emotions and draw closer to God?