Learning to Lament

As I enter this time of prayer, I repeat the words of Psalm 5:1–2, slowly, several times, making them my prayer to God:

‘Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament.

Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.’

Pause and repeat

Today’s reading is an ancient prayer of lament from Psalm 89:46–49

Pause to read the bible passage

Struggle and travail are important expressions of biblical spirituality. ‘Lamenting is more than a technique for venting emotion. It is one of the fruits of a deepening spiritual life that has learned to stand naked before God without shame or pretence … Honest lament can express a vibrant faith; one that has learned to embrace life’s hardships as well as its joy, and to lift everything—everything— to the Father in prayer’*

It’s natural to ask God to help, heal, or intervene when things go wrong. It’s entirely understandable that my instinct when confronted with difficulties is to ask God to make them go away. But more than half the Psalms model something different, inviting me to lift laments to the Lord from the midst of the mess of my unresolved pain.

Pause and reflect

I take time now to express my sadness to the Lord, giving voice to the disappointment, frustration, and fear that I may rarely dare admit, even to myself.

Pause and pray

As I bring this time with God to a close, I pray the words of the African American Spiritual ‘Fix Me, Jesus’:

Oh yes, fix me, Jesus, fix me.

Fix me so that I can walk on a little while longer.

Fix me so that I can pray on just a little bit harder.

Fix me so that I can sing on just a little bit louder.

Fix me so that I can go on despite the pain,

the fear, the doubt, and yes, the anger.

I ask not that you take this cross from me, only that you give me the strength

to continue carrying it onward ’til my dying day. Oh, fix me, Jesus, fix me.

* Pete Greig, God on Mute, David C Cook, (Colorado Springs, 2020), p92