“I read the Psalms of David all the time. They are amazing. He is the first bluesman, shouting at God, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ But there’s honesty in that too. . . ”

So said Bono, frontman of U2, in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 2017, referring to one of the subgenres of the Psalms – the Psalms of lament.

Lament is not a genre of writing many people would expect to find in the Bible.

It cuts against the “happy-clappy” stereotype of Christians.

But throughout the Bible, we find expressions of disappointment and anguish, both directed toward God and from God Himself.

The shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), captures the Messiah grieving alongside His followers and friends.

Perhaps even more jarring is Jesus’ last words uttered on the cross – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

They are words taken from the Psalm of the bluesman David, written in Psalm 22. 

They don’t just express grief and disappointment – they outright accuse God of leaving the building. 

There’s anger there – and, when the time calls for it, we’re invited to join in.

Bono, chatting with Eugene Peterson, author of ‘The Message’, about the Psalms.

 “A lament is talking to God about trouble and sorrows, but it doesn’t just mean talking-you might be groaning or silent, or weeping to God,” theologian Jill Firth said, speaking on Undeceptions. 

“God is really interested in everything that we want to say to him.

“Like in a relationship if you’re only a good weather friend that only wants to hear when you’re having a good time and doesn’t want to hear that you’ve got cancer or that your sister’s died or that your dog is on its way out, that’s a bit of a thin relationship.

“There are some really nasty things in some of the Laments, asking God ‘What are you doing? Are you asleep? It’s been weeks since I asked the last time, and you’re not doing anything’… and God is open to that.”

Most of the laments in the Bible are found in the Old Testament, specifically in the books of Job, the Psalms,  Jeremiah, and the book named after them: Lamentations.

In none of these books do we find a definitive answer to the question ‘Why do bad things happen?’.

Sometimes we may see a hint of the reason, as in Jeremiah, where God’s judgment against Israel is unfolding in real time.

But at other times – particularly the book of Job – the laments are responses tolife gone wrong, for seemingly no good reason.

This is frustrating for believers and sceptics alike.

However, what is markedly different about Christianity is that it is upfront about two things: you will face disappointment in life, and God will walk with you through it, as He has countless times before.

Crucial to walking through pain, though, is the practice of pouring out complaints to God Himself.

Not only that, but with the laments of the Bible, God gives us the words to complain – and these complaints often go way further than we would think is appropriate.

Take, for example,t he end of Psalm 88:

Why, Lord, do you reject me
    and hide your face from me?

From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors and am in despair.

Your wrath has swept over me;
    your terrors have destroyed me.

All day long they surround me like a flood;
    they have completely engulfed me.

You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
    darkness is my closest friend.

Those are angry, accusatory words – but they’re given to us in the Bible, to be used in our expression toward God.

Interestingly, this practice of expressing anguish has been observed in the modern secular world to be of benefit for trauma victims.

Professor Debra Kaminer – an expert on the psychological effects of trauma and violence at the University of Cape Town – noted back in 2006 that narrative retelling of events can help trauma survivors.

Old Testament scholar Leslie Allen calls books like Lamentations “the script of a liturgy intended as a therapeutic ritual”.

The complaints of the Bible don’t exist in a vacuum; they’re to be used by others to help face the ongoing disappointments of life.

“You can just tell God how terrible it is,” Jill said.

“And then when you go away, you don’t have to cheer yourself up, fix yourself – you just tell the truth and that’s it.”

This might be deeply unsatisfying for some people.

However, God knows Lament directly. 

Whether you believe it or not, in the Bible, and only the Bible, God Laments. 

 

Adapted by Alasdair Belling from Undeceptions episode 152 ‘God Laments’. Listen here.

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