Do you know the difference between a lament and a complaint? Modern English dictionaries may show little distinction, but Old Testament scholars argue a Biblical lament is more than just a complaint. “A complaint is an accusation against God that maligns His character, but a lament is an appeal to God based on confidence in His character.”*
I first ran across this distinction in a book by Jamie Winship:
“Complaint is the bitter howl of unbelief in any benevolent God … a distrust in the love-beat of the Father’s heart … Lament is a cry of belief in a good God, a God who has His ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beauty.” –Jamie Winship, quoting Ann Voskamp, in his book, LIVING FEARLESS.
Consider the question posed in the title above: do you complain or do you lament? We all have problems. We all face challenges and many of them feel unfair, undeserved, and extremely painful. When you face problems, do you complain or do you lament?
Think about the last time disaster struck. How did you react? Be honest.
Did you unleash on the world around you, on your family, on your friends, and on God, a “bitter howl of unbelief”?
Did your words sound like those of someone who does not believe in a good God, a loving God?
Did you doubt God? Listen to yourself as you suffer. Do you sound like one who does not trust the “love-beat of the Father’s heart”?
The alternative to such a bitter complaint is to react with a lament. A lament does not mean you ignore the suffering. A lament is crying out to God about your hurt. But your heart and your words are those of one who still believes in a good God. You pray, you complain, you shed tears—but you also know that God “has his ear to your heart.” God is going to take this ugly, horrible problem and transform it into a thing of beauty. When you lament, you suffer, you cry, and you hurt, but you never lose faith.
If a complaint is shaking an angry fist at God, a lament is crawling into God’s arms to weep with him.
Jeremiah, “the weeping prophet,” wrote Lamentations—five chapters of bitter reports about God and the circumstances he had allowed Israel to experience. The people had been kidnapped, Solomon’s temple destroyed, Jerusalem looted and everything of value stolen. Jeremiah had to live through this time of humiliation, destruction, and despair. And Jeremiah had a lot to say about it. As you might imagine, one who earns the name “weeping prophet” is not one to hold back:
“How does the city sit solitary that once was full of people? … The Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity … Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed … the enemy hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things … Behold, O Lord, I am in distress, my bowels are troubled, mine heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is death” Lamentations 1:1,5,8,10,20.
Jeremiah then makes it personal, arguing God has made him old, broken his bones, smashed his teeth, waited like a bear to ambush him, and fired arrows into his heart, Lamentations 3:4-16.
Jeremiah weeps, certainly. But he does not lose his faith. In chapter three, he remembers that God is his only hope:
“I have hope. We are not consumed. His compassions fail not. Thy mercies are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion … therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him … Though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion … For he does not afflict anyone willingly” Lamentations 3:21-25,32-33.
It is easy to parrot the popular verse, “His mercies are new every morning.” But could you say it after all that Jeremiah had been through, convinced God had not only driven Israel nearly to destruction, but had attacked Jeremiah’s health personally? That, my friends, is a lament: cry out to God, but do so without losing faith in him.
“His mercies are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness” Lamentations 3:23.
Lord, teach us to pray with faith: to lament rather than complain.
AΩ
*From the excellent article: https://www.ntwrightonline.org/five-things-to-know-about-lament/
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