Readings for today: Lamentations 3, Psalms 29
There are many categories to prayer. There are the praises we sing to God like the ones in Psalm 29 today. “Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.” (Psalms 29:1-2 CSB) Again, these are good words to pray out loud if you are struggling to pray or just learning how to pray. These words rightly honor God for who He has revealed Himself to be. There are prayers of confession like the one listed in Lamentations 3:40-42 CSB, “Let’s examine and probe our ways, and turn back to the Lord. Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven (and say): We have sinned and rebelled; you have not forgiven.” These are harder words to pray because they force us to do some honest self-reflection. They force us to come face to face with our complicity in the sin and evil of our world. They force us to understand we are not the victim; we are the perpetrator. And it’s not because God doesn’t want to forgive us for our sin, it’s because we’ve refused to confess it before Him. If we do not offer it to Him with a humble and open heart, He will not let our sin pass. There are prayers of comfort like the one listed in Lamentations 3:57-58 CSB, “You came near whenever I called you; you said, “Do not be afraid.” You championed my cause, Lord, you redeemed my life.” God is so good. He draws near to those who draw near to Him. He comes to comfort not to condemn. These are just a few of the many categories of prayer found in today’s reading.
The one I want to draw our attention to may be the hardest of them all. Prayers of lament are deep cries of grief. They almost must be wrested from the deepest, darkest places of our souls. They are prayers that arise when we are at our most vulnerable, our most desperate. Remember, Jeremiah has seen the destruction of his beloved city. He has watched his leaders ignore his warnings, resist Babylon, and pay a terrible price. He has seen the horrors of war firsthand. Think about the images we see on the news today from Gaza or Ukraine. They are almost impossible to watch. This is why Jeremiah pens the Book of Lamentations. It’s a raw, firsthand account of his own experience as he wrestles with God over why such harsh judgment had to fall. He has endured the wrath of God in all its unbridled fury. He has walked in darkness and experienced starvation and suffering on a level we cannot imagine. He has wept more tears than he thought possible. He has felt trapped and harassed and abused. He has lost all hope. This is the null point of the prayer. This is the kind of prayer you pray when you hit rock bottom. A prayer from the gut. A prayer with no filter. God welcomes such prayers.
Biblical lament doesn’t end in despair and even in the midst of Jeremiah’s pain, you can see glimpses of hope break through. However, it’s important not to make more of these than Jeremiah himself does. They bear but fleeting mention in the book. But they are important. Lamentations 3:22-26 CSB, “Because of the Lord’s faithful love, we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! I say, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” Yes, Biblical lament acknowledges hope but doesn’t forget despair. It actually lays them side by side. And this is what makes such prayers so powerful. They fully acknowledge the desperation of the human condition and fully acknowledge the holiness and faithfulness of God’s character. In this way, they are almost “incarnational” when you stop to think about it.
Readings for tomorrow: Lamentations 4-5, Psalms 30