• Lament
• Historical Background
• Authorship, Date and Setting:
• Prophetic Contemporaries:
• Political Climate:
• Religious and Social Conditions:
• Introduction
• How long?
• Components of lament
• Invocation
• Complaint
• Petition
• Trust
• Something to note
• Some misconceptions of lament
• These are statements of doubt
• We can’t do it because it is foreign to us
• Each prayer must end in faith
• Practical Steps for Prayers of Lament

Lament

Too long, please open your Bible Habakkuk 1: 1-4

Historical Background

Authorship, Date and Setting:

• Author: Habakkuk the prophet (1:1). Little is known about him beyond this book. His name may mean “embrace” or “wrestle,” fitting for someone who wrestled with God in prayer.
• Date: Likely late 7th century BC, during the rise of Babylon (the Chaldeans). Probably in the years leading up to Babylon’s invasion of Judah (before 605 BC).

Prophetic Contemporaries:

These prophets overlapped and together give us a rich picture of God's concern for justice, faithfulness, and compassion, both within Israel and beyond its borders.

Political Climate:

• The Assyrian empire was declining, and Babylon was emerging as the new superpower.

Religious and Social Conditions:

• Judah was spiritually corrupt and socially unjust.
• Habakkuk lived in the tension of seeing God’s people in moral decay and hearing that God’s judgment would come through an even more wicked nation.

Introduction

The book of Habakkuk is unique among the prophets. Most prophetic books are addressed to the people of God, warning them of judgment or calling them to repentance. Habakkuk, however, is a dialogue between a prophet and God.

How long?

Too long, please open your Bible Habakkuk 1: 1-4

The opening verses of Habakkuk follow a pattern of prayer we see across both old and new testaments — lament. This kind of prayer tries to wrestle with the lived experience of painful contradictions between what we know about God and what we are going through in a given situation. They usually seem very emotionally charged, and are many times filled with elaborate descriptions of hardship, pain or other kinds of discomfort.

Too long, please open your Bible Psalm 13

Too long, please open your Bible Psalm 130 & 131

Lament prayers are quite common in scripture — they make up least 1/3 of the Psalms. Job and Jeremiah also contain a lot of lament, and the whole book of Lamentations is lament too.

Components of lament

Invocation

This is a crucial part of lament and it separates lament from mere complaining or grumbling. Invocation gives direction to lament — “to whom am I crying out”? Lament is to God. It takes grief, anger, and confusion upward, keeping the relationship with Him alive.

Complaint

This is the part of lament where the pray-er names what is wrong. In a lot of lament speeches, this forms the bulk of the speech. The pray-er articulates elaborately the feelings/emotions that are present as a result of suffering or sin. This section usually also contains “accusations” against God. They tend to cluster around God’s character and covenant promises.

The table below shows some common examples:

Petition

In this section, the lamenter requests that God acts in some way. It does not usually occupy a large portion of the lament. The petition might be for healing, or help, or rescue from enemies or from death.

Trust

The final step of lament is often the hardest. We’re tempted to skip over the raw honesty of earlier stages and rush here, or worse, to push others in pain to get here quickly. This step is the turn toward praise, hope, or trust. In Scripture it’s often introduced by a small word like “But” or “Yet”: “Yet I will trust in You.” “But I will sing of Your steadfast love.”

That “yet” is important—it shows that the lamenter hasn’t escaped the struggle. They’re still hurting, still in the dark, but they choose to trust God anyway. The shift doesn’t erase the pain; it holds hope and sorrow together. Some interpret this turn as proof that God has already answered the prayer. But lament is more complex than that. It is prayer full of tension and contradiction—praising while wounded, hoping while waiting, singing songs of faith while still exiled in a foreign land.

Something to note

These components/sequence should not function as a formula. Sometimes, the lamenter bounces between complaint and trust, then to request and lament — following a wandering path.

Some misconceptions of lament

The elaborate descriptions of anguish and accusation against God often throw many people off, such that they conclude:

These are statements of doubt

On the contrary, a lament is a bold expression of faith. It is the voice of someone who has chosen to get into the arena and like Jacob, wrestle with God. It is the loud cry of a heart that has refused to give up. Even the harshest lines are acts of faith—because they still assume God is sovereign, covenant-bound, and able to act.

We can’t do it because it is foreign to us

Lament seems to be something that’s very foreign to us, but we definitely have capacity for it. Think about the last time you had to send an email to a company or person, to complain about a discomfort you wanted them to do something about — that feels more natural than doing that with God, right?

Below are emails that David and I have sent in the past to facility managers concerning issues with our apartments.

We are only more used to complaining/grumbling/murmuring to others than carrying our unfiltered feelings to God in prayer.

Side note: notice that the longest part of both emails is the description of the problem and the discomfort as a result.

Each prayer must end in faith

There are two psalms that do not end in trust/hope/praise, and I think it is important that we have those (Psalm 88 & 39). The unresolved laments teach us that faith can sound like darkness. They give permission to God’s people to be honest when hope feels impossible. They show that lament is not about always arriving at praise, but about refusing to let go of God—even when the pain remains unresolved.

Unresolved laments show that just turning to God in pain is faith. We don’t need to force ourselves into premature praise. Psalms like 39 and 88 give language for long-term pain, teaching us that God’s word makes room for prayers without resolution.

Practical Steps for Prayers of Lament

1. Begin with Scripture
1. Read a lament psalm slowly (e.g., Ps 13, 42, 77, 88)
2. Let the psalm give you words when you don’t have your own.
3. You can even pray a line aloud and then add your own situation to it.
2. Name the Pain Honestly
1. Tell God what is wrong without softening it: injustice, grief, loss, confusion.
2. Be concrete: “God, I don’t understand why ___ happened.”
3. This step is the heart of lament—it refuses denial.
3. Ask Boldly for God to Act
1. Lament is not just venting; it’s petition.
2. Use strong, urgent language: “Arise, O Lord!” “Do not be far from me.”
3. Be specific in what you’re asking God to do.
4. Remember God’s Character & Past Works
1. Recall His faithfulness, promises, and saving acts.
2. This is not to “cancel out” the pain but to anchor your plea in who God has shown Himself to be.
5. Choose Trust (Even if Weakly)
1. Many laments make a turn with “But” or “Yet”: “Yet I will trust…”
2. This is a decision to lean on God even while hurting, not a denial of suffering.
3. Some days, trust may sound as small as: “God, I don’t feel it, but I know You are still my refuge.”
6. Write or Speak Your Own Lament
1. Journal your lament prayer, using the psalms as a template or pray it aloud—alone, with a friend, or in a group.
2. Writing helps you slow down; speaking helps you embody the honesty.
7. Share in Community (Optional but Powerful)
1. Lament psalms were often communal songs.
2. Share your lament with trusted believers, or pray together over a shared grief (e.g., injustice, tragedy). This helps normalize lament as part of the church’s worship life.