Sessions Include:

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Lesson #1
Life in a Minor Key
Psalm 77

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Lesson #2
Bring Your Complaints to God
Psalm 10

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Lesson #3
Ask Boldly
Psalm 22

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Lesson #4
Choose to Trust
Psalm 13

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Lesson #5
Broken World; Holy God
Lamentations 1 - 2

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Lesson #6
Hope Springs from Truth Rehearsed
Lamentations 3

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Lesson #7
Unearthing Idols
Lamentations 5

So far we’ve learned that lament involves turning to prayer and giving voice to our complaints. I’ve tried to help you see the need to keep praying through your pain, whatever the reason. In the previous chapter, we learned about the spiritual value of bringing our complaints to God. Now we come to the third step: asking boldly.

This next leg in our journey involves confidently calling upon God to act in accordance with his character. It is how lament moves from the why question of complaint to the who question of request. As I read through the lament psalms, I think of my friend Bernie. The writers are equally bold in their requests. They call upon God with such authority that it seems as if they’re commanding God to act. Their confidence in God’s character and their knowledge of his past deliverance compel them to make bold requests. The writers of lament stake their claim on what God has promised to do.

However, these requests do something more. Boldly asking God for help based upon who he is and what he’s promised eclipses the complaints. I say “eclipses” for a reason. It captures the fact that why questions are not always answered before we move into requests. Just as one heavenly body moves into the shadow of another during an eclipse, so too the why questions and the who questions coexist, but not equally. Who God is becomes the more prominent reality while not removing the lingering questions. As we make our bold requests, “Why is this happening?” moves into the shadow of “Who is God?”

That’s why we need to ask boldly.

Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 17–19.

Check out our Bible Study on Dark Clouds; Deep Mercy. A bible study on the book of Lamentations as well as some Psalms of Lament.

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