Lament as a Pathway to Peace
The question “How long?” haunts my mind, tempting me toward a pathway of despair. I found that Biblical lament could be a pathway to peace.
The question “How long?” haunts my mind, tempting me toward a pathway of despair. I found that Biblical lament could be a pathway to peace.
Zachariah and Elizabeth held on, they lived lives of trust in a God they couldn’t see or hear. They learned how to worship God in the waiting and so can we.
Singing happy songs to a heavy heart is cruel. Don’t tell grieving people that their pain is a gift or make them sing praise songs when they don’t want to. Don’t tell them that other people are suffering more than they are.
I find it striking that Psalm 88 includes virtually no words of reassurance. Nowhere does the psalmist add parenthetically, “But you are the Lord of mercy and compassion,” or anything else like this. Most psalms of lament include words of hope. Not Psalm 88. Here we find dark despair.