Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament

by Mark Vroegop

to give a person permission to wrestle with sorrow instead of rushing to end it.

While I have nothing against celebration and pointing people toward hope, the depth of my grief caused me to long for the honest and candid spiritual struggle with pain.

Lament is how you live between the poles of a hard life and trusting in God’s sovereignty.

It takes faith to pray a lament.

Honest, humble, pain-filled questions are part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

But whatever you do—don’t stop talking to God. Keep wrestling. Keep struggling. Keep praying.

No one taught you how to cry. Tears are part of what it means to be human. But to lament is Christian. It is a prayer of faith for the journey between a hard life and God’s goodness. We need to learn to lament. Through the tears, the first step is to turn to God in prayer.

Lament is the language of a people who believe in God’s sovereignty but live in a world with tragedy.