Part 2 of a two-part series. Taken from the sermon “Lament for Our Land: The Sorrow of Devaluing the Image of God.” Read Part 1.
The Bible tells us that we have all fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23), that there is no one righteous (Rom. 3:10), and that the whole creation groans under its bondage as it decays (Rom. 8:22). The Bible interprets what is wrong with the world and helps us to understand the solution. It tells us that sin, death, disease, broken relationships, and tears are not the final word. Jesus said it this way in the book of Revelation:
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’” (Rev. 1:17–18).
Our world is filled with pain and tears, and that is why I often say that to cry is human. Crying is what all humans do, but Christian lament is different. Christian lament feels and expresses the sorrow of the brokenness of our humanity, but it does so because it understands what lies underneath our pain, and it knows the solution. Christian lament grieves the curse that causes pain, and it longs for the day when the blessings of Christ will flow as far as the curse is found.
Christian lament interprets pain by grieving for what lies underneath, and it longs for a better day under the rule and reign of Christ. And that is why to cry is human, but to lament is Christian.
Let Yourself Lament
Lament is not only useful as a means of expressing sorrow; it is a means by which God reminds us about the brokenness of the world. It would be a mistake to think of lament as a category that only expresses the grief that we immediately feel. Lament can be our teacher.
Part of the reason why there are so many laments in the Psalms is to remind people that much of life is lived in a minor key, that there are many different kinds of suffering, and that God can still be trusted even in light of these things. Lament helps us to see life through a biblical and God-centered lens as we wrestle with pain and loss. It reminds us of the presence of suffering in the world, and it teaches us how to interpret it.
There is a human tendency to forget or ignore the embedded brokenness around us until it directly affects us. We typically find it easier to lament when we are the ones who are suffering. Lament reminds us that brokenness is a much bigger issue than just the effect we personally experience.
By praying or reading laments, our heart is tuned in to the pain of another. Lament awakens us to the meaning of pain that we fail to understand, or it can serve to awaken us to pain that we tend to ignore.
One of the takeaways from Lamentations is the sober realization that there have been many times in biblical and human history where God said, “Enough.” The books of Lamentations and Psalms remind us of this.
To cry is human; to lament is Christian.
To learn more about lament, check out the sermon series Lamentations: Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy.
