Honest to God: A Qualitative Study of Engaging with God in Lament

Lament is an ancient form of prayer that has been neglected in American Christianity. Biblical lament—seen throughout scripture and particularly in the psalms—typically follows a pattern: the sufferer addresses God, brings an honest complaint to God, makes a request of God, reminds themself of God’s past work on their behalf, and ends in expressions of confidence in God in a posture of active, willing surrender. After participating in a four-week daily lament program, 32 participants who reported a recent difficult life circumstance were interviewed about their experiences with lament. Using thematic analysis, we found that four mechanisms—permission for emotional honesty with God (reported by 69% of participants), biblical passages that mirror participants’ experiences (66%), emotional processing (88%), and grounding through the return to praise (31%)—helped increase their intimacy with God (66%), providing a new perspective, hope, or peace (25%).