The Healing Path of Lament
O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before You. — Psalm 88:1
People say “time heals all wounds,” but let’s be honest. Time covers things up. It buries the wound under busyness or distraction, but the wound doesn’t go away. Some of us carry stuff from years ago like it just happened yesterday. It lingers because time alone doesn’t heal. God does. And part of how God does that is through lament.
Lament is one of those words that sounds churchy until you sit with it. It’s not complaining to the sky. It’s bringing your raw pain, confusion, and questions directly to God. It’s being honest with Him about where it hurts. Psalm 88 shows us this kind of prayer. No tidy resolution. No Sunday-school ending. Just honest grief laid bare before the Lord.
And here’s what matters: the psalmist doesn’t turn away from God in that pain. He stays in the conversation. He keeps praying. That tells me that lament isn’t about giving up. It’s about holding on. It’s about choosing relationship over silence, even when there aren’t easy answers.
Jesus modeled this too. He didn’t just carry our sin. He carried our sorrow. Isaiah 53 says He bore both. And if the cross speaks anything to our wounds, it says this: God doesn’t run from your grief. He moves toward it.
So whatever you’ve been holding in, today’s the day to let it out. Not just to vent, but to pray. To cry out honestly. To let God meet you in the middle of it, not once it’s cleaned up.
Reflection Question
Where in your life have you been hoping time would heal a wound that really needs to be brought honestly to God in prayer?
Time doesn’t heal all wounds. But bringing those wounds to Jesus does.
Prayer
Jesus, I’ve been carrying things I haven’t brought to You honestly. Help me to stop pretending I’m okay when I’m not. Teach me how to lament in a way that’s real and open, not just rehearsed. Thank You for being the One who bears my sorrow and heals what I bring into the light. Amen.
People say “time heals all wounds,” but let’s be honest. Time covers things up. It buries the wound under busyness or distraction, but the wound doesn’t go away. Some of us carry stuff from years ago like it just happened yesterday. It lingers because time alone doesn’t heal. God does. And part of how God does that is through lament.
Lament is one of those words that sounds churchy until you sit with it. It’s not complaining to the sky. It’s bringing your raw pain, confusion, and questions directly to God. It’s being honest with Him about where it hurts. Psalm 88 shows us this kind of prayer. No tidy resolution. No Sunday-school ending. Just honest grief laid bare before the Lord.
And here’s what matters: the psalmist doesn’t turn away from God in that pain. He stays in the conversation. He keeps praying. That tells me that lament isn’t about giving up. It’s about holding on. It’s about choosing relationship over silence, even when there aren’t easy answers.
Jesus modeled this too. He didn’t just carry our sin. He carried our sorrow. Isaiah 53 says He bore both. And if the cross speaks anything to our wounds, it says this: God doesn’t run from your grief. He moves toward it.
So whatever you’ve been holding in, today’s the day to let it out. Not just to vent, but to pray. To cry out honestly. To let God meet you in the middle of it, not once it’s cleaned up.
Reflection Question
Where in your life have you been hoping time would heal a wound that really needs to be brought honestly to God in prayer?
Time doesn’t heal all wounds. But bringing those wounds to Jesus does.
Prayer
Jesus, I’ve been carrying things I haven’t brought to You honestly. Help me to stop pretending I’m okay when I’m not. Teach me how to lament in a way that’s real and open, not just rehearsed. Thank You for being the One who bears my sorrow and heals what I bring into the light. Amen.
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