Lament Leads to Trust

Pastor Gary Oser

I think I have shared this before, but my son keeps me supplied with challenging reading material. For Christmas a couple years ago, he gave me a book with an unusual title, "Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament.

I have to be honest with you, I was wondering why he would share a book about lament with me. I had a hard time getting into it, but as I did, I began to see the value of something that is often missing from our lives. Allow me to share a few thoughts about the book with you.

To better understand lament, we need a definition. In the Word of God, “lament” is more than sorrow or talking about sadness.; lament is how we bring our sorrow and pain to God.

“Lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust.” God invites us to share our pain, struggles and questions with Him through prayer. One excellent way of doing this is through the words of psalms. A few psalms you might consider using in doing that are Psalms 3, 10, 77 and 86.

Ultimately, expressing our lament should lead to trust. “By turning to prayer, laying out our complaints and boldly asking, we are brought by God to a place of growing trust in Him.”

A great example is Job. He expressed his complaints to God, but he came to the point where he could honestly say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15).

In the book of Lamentations, the writer expresses a lot of lament before concluding with this thought, “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him” (Lam. 3:24-25).

The author of the book my son gave me shares this personal testimony, “This is how lament has served me and countless other believers. Tear-filled prayers, wrestling through tough questions and banking my life on the promises of God are all part of the journey to keep me trusting. Learning to lament leads to trust.”

I will close with a great one-liner worth remembering:

“Keep trusting the One who keeps you trusting.”