When brokenness becomes your life, lament helps you turn to God. It lifts your head and turns your tear-filled eyes toward the only hope you have: God's grace.

At some point in the future, the final word will be spoken. God is going to intervene, and lament is one of the ways we defiantly say, 'This is not over!' In fact, the pain that causes lament can create a longing for the future like nothing else. Maybe you need to put this book down and thank the Lord that 'this is not over.' Christians long for the day when faith shall be sight. Until then, we lament by faith.

To cry is human, but to lament is Christian.

Every lament is a prayer; a statement of faith

Prayerful lament is better than silence. However, I've found that many people are afraid of lament. They find it too honest, too open, or too risky. But there's something far worse: silent despair. Giving God the silent treatment is the ultimate manifestation of unbelief. Despair lives under the hopeless resignation that God doesn't care, he doesn't hear, and nothing is ever going to change. People who believe this stop praying, they give up. This silence is a soul killer.

The lament of Good Friday was answered three days later with the empty tomb. The greatest injustice in history became the greatest display of divine mercy. Tragedy became triumph. Lament was the voice in between.

Lament is the language that helps you believe catastrophe can become eucatastrophe. It vocalizes the pain of the moment while believing that help is on the way. Lament gives us hope because it gives us a glimpse of truth.