Oct 2, 2026 · 49 min · 13 segments
One third of the psalms are prayers of lament. Mark Vroegop defines lament as “a prayer in pain that leads to trust.” No one wants to learn the language of lament, but when sorrows come, lament is the…
I want to invite you to do what Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3, and how the New Living Translation renders it when he says this, "I will never forget this awful time, and yet I will dare to hope." So first, turn to Jesus in your pain.
Incline your ear to me and answer me speedily in the day when I call." Let me start with a definition of what a lament is.
They're prayers that we offer in pain, and it might surprise some of you to know that one-third of the sacred songbook in your Bible are laments.
And you know why that's really helpful? Because it means that if you have a bad day about one out of every three days, you're biblical.
[laughs]
Laments give voice and words to emotions that we feel because of suffering and the questions that are implicit.
If I, if I run into a young person who says, "I, I haven't really suffered," my answer is, "Well, I don't want to be depressing, but you just haven't lived long enough." [laughs] And yet that's not a depressive, dark cloud sort of statement.
Life is full of struggles and maybe you're here and you've recently said something like this, "I don't know why this is happening", or, "I cannot see the point in this", or, "I'm not sure I can handle this", or, "I don't see how this fits into anything that's gonna be good." Listen, the human heart always longs for that answer to the question of why, and yet most of our lives, the why question is not fully answered.
I want to invite you to do what Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3, and how the New Living Translation renders it when he says this, "I will never forget this awful time, and yet I will dare to hope." So first, turn to Jesus in your pain.
Incline your ear to me and answer me speedily in the day when I call." Let me start with a definition of what a lament is.
They're prayers that we offer in pain, and it might surprise some of you to know that one-third of the sacred songbook in your Bible are laments.
And you know why that's really helpful? Because it means that if you have a bad day about one out of every three days, you're biblical.
[laughs]
Laments give voice and words to emotions that we feel because of suffering and the questions that are implicit.
If I, if I run into a young person who says, "I, I haven't really suffered," my answer is, "Well, I don't want to be depressing, but you just haven't lived long enough." [laughs] And yet that's not a depressive, dark cloud sort of statement.
Life is full of struggles and maybe you're here and you've recently said something like this, "I don't know why this is happening", or, "I cannot see the point in this", or, "I'm not sure I can handle this", or, "I don't see how this fits into anything that's gonna be good." Listen, the human heart always longs for that answer to the question of why, and yet most of our lives, the why question is not fully answered.
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