The Psalms teach us to bring our lives with all their highs and lows to God. Psalms can be divided into 3 basic camps: Hymns, Instruction, and Laments.
If you know how to complain, you know how to lament. God longs for us to bring to Him our doubts and burdens. Crying and complaining to God are not necessarily signs of little faith.
Psalm 13, written by King David, is a psalm of lament.
1. We lament when we feel abandoned by God. “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (vs 1). For Hebrew people, being abandoned was their biggest fear and the source of their greatest lament.
2. We lament when we begin to doubt. “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and have sorrow in my heart every single day?” (vs 2). When experiencing prolonged pain or hardship, we begin to struggle with doubt. We begin to wonder, “Is the Bible true? Is God a good God? Does He hear my prayers or care for me?”
But David reminds us that it’s OK to lament to God with our questions. God is not disappointed in us because of them. Wrestling with doubt is not unbelief. Doubt asks questions and tries to understand, but faith in God remains. Unbelief is rejecting and cancelling God. The Christian believes that God is good and trustworthy even when nothing makes sense.
God may be preparing you for a new faith adventure by pruning you. Pruning doesn’t kill the tree, it removes the dead, unfruitful branches, leading to new growth and more fruit. God may be pruning your life of incomplete or false ideas about who HE is or what matters in life for the purpose of preparing you for greater fruitfulness or impact. So bring your raw, unfiltered heart to the Lord. He can use that. He can start there.
3. We lament because of enemies. “How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (vs 2). “My enemy will say, I have overcome him, and my foes will rejoice when I fall” (vs 4). Enemies refer to anything you feel you need deliverance from. An enemy could a person, an addiction, an illness, or fear—whatever is causing your grief and heartache.
4. We lament because of illness or physical or emotional pain.
Storms are a part of life. Trouble will eventually cause us to cry out to God. But at some point we need to move past our lament. After expressing his complaint to God, David reminded himself what He knew to be true about the Lord and he affirmed His faith in God. In verse 5 he said, “But I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.”
Share your feelings and frustration with God, but don’t stay there!! Lament brings us closer to God. After we lament, we must trust, pray, and obey. And then hold on. On the authority of Scripture, we KNOW He holds onto us. JESUS enters into our suffering by being with us moment by moment giving us strength to hold on. Jesus, the most Godforsaken man who ever lived, says to you and me, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” We don’t have to face things on our own because we are not alone. Jesus said, “Surely I will be with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
Share your need with Jesus. Bring your lament to the foot of the cross.