Lamenting Through Lent

Lamenting Through Lent

      The Lent season is quickly approaching.  There is a lot of misconceptions about Lent.  For me personally I have never offically celebrated the Lenton season.  I always assumed it was people giving up something for forty days just for a temporary spiritual walk with God only to take the off ramp to do the same thing again.  But Lent is more then giving up something and eating fish.  Lent is often described as a season of giving something up.  For a grieving person, we have already given up a lot of things.  We have had to say goodbye to the person that we love.  But what if, instead of giving something up, we brought something out?  What if this Lent wasn’t about less coffee, less sugar, or less scrolling, but about finally bringing our sorrow, regret, grief, disappointment, and unanswered prayers into the presence of God?

      The Bible gives us a language most of us were never taught to use, lament.  Lament isn't a word that you merely say, it is a word that you feel.  You feel it deeply in your core.  It is more then pain and loss or sadness.  It's an inner agony of the soul.  More than a third of the Psalms are laments. Job lamented. Jeremiah lamented. Even Jesus lamented from the cross.  Lament is not a lack of faith.  Lament is faith that refuses to stay silent.  Read that phrase again.  Oftentimes we assume that lamenting means lack of faith, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Titans of the faith lamented.  Jeremiah was known as the weeping or lamenting prophet.  None of us would accuse Jeremiah of having little faith.

      Lamenting is the prayer that says, “God, this hurts.”  “I don’t understand.”  “I’m tired.”  “Where are You?”  And Lent is the perfect season to pray those prayers as we walk with Jesus toward the cross.

      So what are some practical ways to not waste this season and find spiritual growth even in the valley.  Here are a few ways you might practice lament during Lent:

1. Pray a Psalm of lament each day and make note of the honesty by which the author writes.  Identify your pain through his writing.
   Start with Psalms 13, 22, 42, 77, or 88. Don’t rush to the hopeful ending. Sit in the ache, let it wash over you, but keep your focus on the hope of the Gospel.
2. Write your own lament
   Take 10 minutes and write an honest prayer you would normally be afraid to say out loud. Don’t edit it. God can handle it.  It doesn't have to be a fancy prayer with big words.  It doesn't have to have the warm feelings.  It shouldn't be fake.  It should be honest.
3. Fast from pretending you’re okay.  Fasting is a key component of Lent.  I personally haven't made fasting a part of my spiritual disciplines.  But fasting isn't just about food, phone, or the internet.  Instead of giving up food or coffee, give up the habit of hiding your pain from God.
4. Sit in silence for five minutes
   No music. No words. Just bring your grief, confusion, or weariness into stillness before the Lord.  Use these moments of stillness to bring forth things that you might have been trying to hide from God.
5. Read the Gospels slowly
   Notice how often Jesus meets people in their sorrow before He fixes anything.  Note the personal relationships that Jesus had with people that were suffering.
6. Name what hurts
   Say it plainly: the regret, the loss, the disappointment, the fear. Lament begins with honesty.
7. Pray the words Jesus prayed
   “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

      Lent is not just preparation for Easter joy.  It is permission to bring our sorrow to the One who carried it to the cross.  Elizabeth Elliot, a woman well versed with grief and sorrow, once said "Leave it all in the hands that were wounded for you."  You don’t have to be strong this season.  You don't have to fake it to make it.  You just have to be honest.  And honesty is where real prayer begins.