Prayers that End in Question Marks (Lamentations 5)

We’ve all been in situations where we’re somewhere in the middle of our journey, trying to find the strength to keep going, but we’re so weary that we don’t know what else to do but give up. In the poetry of Lamentations 5, Israel finds itself somewhere in the middle of their own journey, collapsed on their own mountain, exhausted, depleted, ready to give up.  Lament is a gift. In a way, lament is like a good pair of hiking boots—a tool that helps us keep going along the journey of life, through the struggle, through the storm, through the pain. Lament gives us permission to ask questions of God, and Jesus meets us in those questions. Lament gives us words and structures to express how we feel and keeps us from being at the mercy of how we feel.  Lament is one of the ways we say, “Things are wrong.” When we lament, we’re not minimizing what’s broken, we’re not staying silent. Instead, we’re bringing the pain of this world to God, trusting that God hears us, that God cares and can act.