Lament is not a bad thing
If given a preference, none of us would choose to be sad.
We go through our lives doing all we can to avoid sadness and sad situations. However, life does not always go smoothly. In fact, sadness is part of the experience of every human, rich or poor.
The Bible is aware of these patterns in human life: joy, contentment, pain, grief and peace. All of these ingredients make us human, and as a Christian, I am glad the Bible takes each of these seriously.
While we may think the Bible only talks about positive aspects of life, the Bible often surprises us by its honest appraisal of the human condition. In other words, the Bible contains many sections of lament, along with other aspects of human life.
In fact, the Psalms -- the largest collection of hymns and poems in the whole Bible -- are comprised of many examples of laments, complaints and hard questions directed toward God.
For instance, most of Psalm 73 has the author complaining to God about how the "arrogant" and "wicked" seem to prosper, while righteous and faithful people struggle (see Psalm 73:3-5). Another Psalm, Psalm 137, is mostly about how people in captivity were God's people and were mocked and ridiculed (see Psalm 137:1-3). Also, men and women in all parts of the Bible are recorded as having moments when they cry out, complain or sulk to God about injustices happening right in front of them and right in front of the God they serve.
Why is this a good thing? The answer, for me, is that I am glad God is loving and kind enough to allow us to cry out and even complain when things are not going well.
In our lives, we mostly only complain to those we trust the most. Being honest with God about tough times is not necessarily a sign of a lack of faith. Instead, it is most often a sign that we trust God enough to share with God the depth of our concerns, even if that comes out as complaints.
Second, I am glad that God's response in all of these cases I have mentioned is not to strike down people of faith who are honest. In fact, most of the Psalms that begin as complaints end with a kind of peace and relief that comes from knowing you have been heard.
Finally, I like the fact that the Bible is not a book showing no "human" moments or emotions. Although people of faith believe that the Bible is inspired in a special way by God, most of us do not believe that it is some sort of comic book filled with superheroes.
In fact, we really believe that real-life people, in genuine circumstances, are part of the biblical story, just like we are part of God's story today.
