Praying Through Pain: Lessons from Jeremiah's Lament

In Lamentations 5, the prophet Jeremiah describes three essential elements of prayerfully expressing his pain to the Lord. The first was to cry out for mercy and the second was to confess any unrepentant sin. For he recognized that sin’s consequences had led to Judah's suffering.

Confess Your Sin (vv. 11–18)

Sin’s consequences, however, must not lead us to despair, but rather to confession. The prophet admits how the society around him has degraded: “Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah” (Lamentations 5:11; see Deuteronomy 28:30a). They are not safe even in their own homes. “Princes are hung up by their hands” for torture and execution (Lamentations 5:12a). Instead of respecting elders, people shame them to their faces (v. 12b). And those weakened by the famine are still forced to labor: “Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood” (Lamentations 5:13). “The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning” (vv. 14–15; Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9). No one dances. No one sings. The wise, old men no longer give counsel in the city gates or even shoot the breeze (see Lamentations 2:10). No one worships in the temple anymore and religious festivals have fallen silent. Jerusalem is now a ghost town as normal life has ceased, for “the crown has fallen from our head” (5:16a). Judah’s king no longer reigns as the keeper of the covenant and the representative of God’s people. Thus, his downfall removes the nation’s dignity and prosperity. For God had promised such devastation in society should his people break the covenant (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28).

As fallen sinners in a fallen world, we make messes everywhere we go. Yet God designs this cause for our lament to lead us to confession: “Woe to us, for we have sinned!” (Lamentations 5:16b). Though they have surely inherited Adam’s guilt (Romans 5:12) and reaped their fathers’ harvest (Lamentations 5:7), the people also are not faultless (1:5, 8, 9, 14, 18; 2:14; 3:42; 4:6, 12–14; see Jeremiah 3:25). They cannot claim generational sin (31:29–30), though they suffer the generational consequences (Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 5:9–10). “For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it” (Lamentations 5:17–18). The abandoned temple provides a home for wild animals now that the formal worship rituals have ceased (see 1 Kings 9:8). The people are heartsick over all that they have lost (see Lamentations 1:22b; Jeremiah 4:18; Deuteronomy 28:65–66). Yet in their pain, they pray with faith. And likewise, such prayers of confession must be our constant breath.

• When we are convicted of personal sin: “God, forgive me. I repent for what I’ve done.”
• When we find sin in our community: “God, forgive us and pour out your mercy. As your people, we have forsaken your holy Word.”
• When we encounter pain in this fallen world: “God, our hearts still groan for glory as we cry for your return. How much longer until you right all wrongs?”
• When we fail as a church to worship rightly or to make disciples: “God, restore us. Give us another chance. And empower us live our lives to honor you.”

All sin reminds us of the person we once were, the person we still are, and the person we are becoming. And each reminder prompts us to keep on praying for God to change us. So, we cry out for God’s mercy and confess our sin until God grants his promised restoration. The following lament over sin’s destruction was written by a member in my church.

A Lament over Sin’s Destruction

Heavenly Father. Mighty God. Everlasting Savior.

Hear our prayer.
Look upon our nation’s suffering.
See the ways we are torn apart—how we often bite and devour each other.
Even the church divides as brothers attack and sisters tear down.
Lord, heal our nation.
Strengthen our churches.
Remind us of your goodness.
Teach us to long for you.

Like the prophet Jeremiah, we confess our foolish faith in gods of our own making.
We trust our fellow man instead of you.
We trust our savings and our wealth and our jobs to keep us safe.
We trust in medicine and good health and scientific advances.
We trust in technology and relationships and human wisdom instead of you.
All these are good, but none of them worthy of worship.

Lord, teach us the futility of self-dependence—the truth that we do not control our lives.
We confess our blindness and our pride;
Our anger against what has happened to us;
Our anxiety about what might be.

Teach us to pray, O Lord, to depend on you—to pour out our hearts in deep lament.
Teach us that you alone are dependable and good, faithful and true.
We put our trust in you.
May you receive all glory, honor, and praise.