Lament as an Act of Resistance
Dr. Justin Adour, Executive Director
In the work of justice advocacy, God has provided His people with a tool that is too often overlooked. That tool? Lament. When used, however, lament becomes a powerful tool of resistance.
Throughout Scripture, lament is an integral part of a biblical prayer life, yet it remains a foreign concept to many Christians today. What is it? Soong-Chan Rah says, “Lament recognizes the struggles of life and cries out for justice against existing injustices.” Walter Brueggemann defines it simply: “Lament is the language of suffering.” In her commentary on Lamentations, Kathleen O'Connor calls it the “poetry of truth-telling”—naming suffering, questioning why God allows it, and crying out for relief, even when answers seem absent.” In other words, lament is not just a crying out in the midst of sorrow, injustice, and suffering. Rather, lament is a deeply God-centered act of prayer that takes seriously the injustices and sorrow around us, the sovereignty and power of God, and the fact that things are not the way they should be. Suffering, injustice, and death are antithetical to and distortions of God’s good creation. Lament gives us language for confronting such distortions.
Most importantly, lament is deeply embedded in Scripture. The Psalms, Israel’s hymnal, are filled with prayers and songs meant to shape God's people (some of which are below). Strikingly, nearly 40% of the Psalms are lament. This practice of lament formed Israel in ways modern Christians often neglect. However, in contemporary times, consider Glenn Pemberton’s book, Hurting with God. In it, he studied the historic hymnals across various Christian traditions and found lament severely underrepresented. He found only 13% of the Church of Christ and Baptist hymnals, and 19% in the Presbyterian hymnal are lament. Even more telling, Soong-Chan Rah examined the top 100 contemporary worship songs and found only 5% could be classified as lament (he also notes that he is very generous in his definition of “lament” and that the actual percentage is even lower). Western Christians, particularly in America, have lost the rhythm of lament. Could you imagine 4 out of 10 of the songs we sing or the prayers we pray on Sunday saying something like “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1), or “Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief” (Psalm 31:9).
“Lament recognizes the struggles of life and cries out for justice against existing injustices,” and “is the language of suffering.” We must refamiliarize ourselves with the practice of lament.
Lament as Resistance
How, then, does lament become an act of resistance? While lament is a tool amidst all forms of suffering, it is a particularly powerful tool in the face of injustice––especially injustice that seems beyond what we can change. First, a church that regularly enters into a posture of lament is a church most in tune with the brokenness of earthly kingdoms. Naming the pervasiveness of injustice, and doing so before God brings clarity about how injustice is the antithesis of the Kingdom of God.
The character and nature of God’s Kingdom––a Kingdom of righteousness and justice––is the orienting vision of what Christians should pursue in this life. While we will only experience the fullness of that Kingdom when our King returns to make all things new, we nonetheless can reflect, albeit imperfectly, that Kingdom now.
This coming Kingdom is one of equality, dignity, and honor for all. Lament names the way that is not present now. This coming Kingdom is one where all are cared for, and the most vulnerable are uplifted. Lament names the way that is not present now. This coming Kingdom is one void of exploitation, manipulation, fear-mongering, war-mongering, and lies. Lament names the way that is not the case now.
Lament refuses to bow before that which is antithetical to God’s Kingdom or leave it unconfronted. Lament names that which is wicked, unholy, unloving, unjust––that which has no place in the Kingdom of God. Lament unmuzzles those once fearful of confronting injustice; gives sight to those once blinded by the seductions of earthly kingdoms; gives hope to those once overcome by the pervasiveness of suffering, because lament insists that injustice and suffering will be crushed under the might of our victorious warrior King, who will one day return. And until the day comes when Jesus fully and completely unfurls His righteous judgment, lament reminds us that we serve a King who empowers us through His Spirit to make His invisible Kingdom visible now.
When our leaders and governments act wickedly, lament prophetically reminds them (and us) that, because of Jesus, their wickedness will not endure forever. When impoverishment means struggling to meet basic needs, lament reminds us that, because of Jesus, such suffering will not endure forever. When the migrant and the sojourner flee, seeking a better life, lament reminds us that, because of Jesus, such exile will not last forever. And amid disorientating suffering or pervasive injustice, what might it look like for Christians to cry out like the biblical authors: How long, oh Lord, must we experience this pain and injustice? Do you not hear? Can you not see? Why do you feel so far? I believe, but I need help with my unbelief, for it feels like your face has turned from me. Why does it seem like you have forsaken me?
For some, such statements communicate despair or a lack of trust in God. To be fair, read Job 3 and you mgith certainly get that sense. However, we must remember that biblical lament is not a proclamation of despair into the darkness. Crying out into the darkness over our anger and frustration is not biblical lament, and will malform us, leading us to despair. Instead, biblical lament is crying out to God, trusting that He does hear, He does see, He does care, and He is making all things new. And until the day when we experience the fullness of God’s Kingdom, we resist every distortion and aberration that he will one day make His footstool.
Some Biblical Prayers of Lament:
Habakkuk 1:2-4
How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Psalm 13
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 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? 3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
Psalm 12
1 Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. 2 Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. 3 May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue—4 those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?” 5 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” 6 And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times. 7 You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, 8 who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.
Psalm 22:1-2
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.
Psalm 31:9-12
9 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. 10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. 11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest friends—those who see me on the street flee from me. 12 I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.