The Hem of His Garment by Dr. Michelle Bengtson

Author:Dr. Michelle Bengtson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Self Help;Pain—Religious aspects—Christianity;Suffering—Religious aspects—Christianity;Prayer—Christianity;Healing—Religious aspects—Christianity;REL012070;REL012120;SEL031000
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2023-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

The Difference between Lament and Complaint

On occasion, I have heard that lament is just a fancied-up church version of complaint. Lament and complaint may appear similar, but upon closer inspection, they are distinctly different. Complaint says, “This is not fair to me.” Lament says, “This is not fair to the character of God.” God is not a God of evil or loss or pain or grief. His perfect creation did not include those things. They came later, after the fall. So, when evil or loss happens, it reflects something that is outside the expression of God’s perfect character and is a slight to that character. In lament, we highlight the discontinuity between our present circumstances and the character of God. The circumstances we lament may be an affront to us, but they are a greater affront to God.

Lament is, in effect, an expression of the pain we experience but with a recognition of God’s presence and an attitude of trust and hopeful expectation of God’s eventual and providential intervention. Complaining is essentially having a self-focused pity party while we dwell on our pain. Complaining is expecting that God should do something for us. Lamenting is appealing to God’s sovereignty, goodness, and mercy from a place of recognizing our own human frailty and sometimes our own participation in the difficult circumstances.

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