Are you grieving a loss? Have you ever felt like the "water" is up to your neck? One way to be RESTORED in times of grief is to openly express your grief to God, or...lament.
In the Bible, we learn that we can be comfortable practicing lament. Here is what we can learn about this in Scripture:
1. Laments are inspired by God.
- There are many instances of lament in the Bible. God wanted them there.
2. Laments are both individual AND corporate.
- We don't ONLY need to grieve alone...we need others to grieve alongside us.
3. Laments are a way to begin where you are.
- You have to begin right where you are to begin moving toward restoration.
4. Laments are poetically honest.
- Poetry expresses the inexpressible.
- Laments are not simply complaints..they are your honest expression. The difference is the DIRECTION of your heart.
5. Laments are open to possibilities.
- You have to be open to the idea that it could be your own responsibility...but it is okay to bring that to God, as well.
6. Laments invite God's presence.
- The goal isn't necessarily to "get happy," but to acknowledge the darkness and move toward God.
Key Passages:
Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Psalm 10 : 1
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 10 : 1-2
Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
Psalm 69 : 1-2
You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
my eyes are dim with grief. . .
You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
Psalm 88 : 8-9,18
“See, Lord, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.
Lamentation 1 : 20
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Isaiah 53 : 3
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. . .
Mark 14 : 34
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Chapters:
Welcome: (0:00)
Worship: (0:51)
Generosity & Prayer for Myanmar: (10:02)
Restored Through Lament: (13:16)
A 2020 Lament: (35:36)
Communion and Lament: (38:10)
