Hurting with God Quotes

“A church that has lost its nerve to lament before God will likely lack the nerve to confront oppression and be prone to support the status quo.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“The language of lament is not an outburst of unrestrained speech that gives free reign to an emotional torrent of words. It is not venting for the sake of venting. Instead, lament is a structured, controlled language that by its methodical cadence helps restore a modicum of structure in times of disorientation.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“How is faith to endure, O God, when you allow all this scraping and tearing on us? You have allowed rivers of blood to flow, mountains of suffering to pile up, sobs to become humanity’s song—all without lifting a finger that we could see. You have allowed bonds of love beyond number to be painfully snapped. If you have not abandoned us, explain yourself . . . instead of hearing an answer we catch sight of God himself scraped and torn. Through our tears we see the tears of God. NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF (Lament for a Son, 80)”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“To content ourselves with a safe language that never raises difficult questions is to settle for a friendly acquaintance with God instead of the covenant relationship modeled by the Psalms.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“We are not God and, even if we can’t believe it, we may be wrong about what God wants. So before we deploy explosive words (these are not neutral prayers), we need to exercise caution and humility.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“If nothing else, the laments about enemies challenge us to ask ourselves, whose side are we on? Could it be that we face no threats because, through our complacency, we have sided with or even become the enemy? These psalms disturb me.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“let’s not try to be less human than the Son of God. Stoicism and its fake smiles in the face of life’s pain and disappointment are not more godly or faithful than tears. After all, Jesus wept.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“In the Psalms, it is not those who lack faith who lament but those recognized for strong faith who bring their most honest and passionate feelings to God. Moreover, by the sheer number of laments in the Psalms, it would appear that one major message of the book is this very point: God invites his people to speak the truth of their lives, their pain, and their confusion to the One who can do something about it.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

“The good news for Job (and us) in God’s reply is that the sea/chaos does not have free reign in this world. Rather, God has set boundaries and limits to how far the sea may trespass on life (38:11). Even more, from God’s perspective the powerful and proud sea is nothing more than a newborn baby that needs swaddling (38:8–9).”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms