By the end of this lesson, the student should:

(1) Appreciate the role of prayer in suffering.

(2) Recognize the value of praying the psalms in difficult times.

(3) See the transition from lament to hope in the psalms of lament.

(4) Use the biblical structure of the psalms of lament in personal prayer.

► Each student should write or recite Matthew 18:15–20 from memory.

► Two or three students should share their outline on Matthew 18:15–20. How should this passage be practically applied in your cultural setting?

We cannot escape suffering in this world. We suffer grief at the death of a family member. We are rejected by a close friend. We face illness and physical pain. Whether we are rich or poor, we will face suffering. Suffering is unavoidable. But through prayer, we can draw near to God when it seems like everything is going wrong.

► Think back to the worst suffering you have faced. Did prayer help you during that time, or did you find it hard to pray? What lessons did you learn about prayer during that time?

For some believers, suffering deepens their prayer life. As they realize their total dependence on God, they turn to prayer for comfort and strength. In their suffering, they draw closer to God. However, other believers struggle to pray when they are suffering. Pain pulls their attention away from God and they feel alone in their suffering.

In this lesson, we will see how the book of Psalms can guide our prayer during times of suffering. We will see how the psalms teach us to pray in difficult times.

Before looking at how prayer helps us face suffering, we should remember the lessons we have already learned about suffering. Prayer is not a way to escape suffering. Prayer does not guarantee that we will receive everything we pray for. However, when God does not grant our requests, it does not mean we have failed in prayer. Sometimes God’s purpose for our lives includes suffering.

Even if God does not remove our suffering, prayer is still important during these times. Prayer brings us into God’s presence; prayer allows us to bring our petitions to God; and prayer brings us to a place where we are willing to surrender our desires to God’s will.

Suffering often leaves us disoriented and confused. When we face physical pain or emotional turmoil, we struggle to find hope. Like Job, we may feel alone. During those times, prayer becomes a great comfort. Through prayer, we experience the presence of “...the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

When we suffer, we may feel that God is far away. But the psalms remind us that God is near when our hearts are broken. With the psalmists, we learn the reality of God’s presence. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). In our pain, God’s presence gives a comfort that goes beyond our human understanding.

Prayer includes asking God for help in our suffering. We bring our needs to him with the confidence that he hears us. Jesus taught us to pray, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Prayer allows us to present our petitions to our loving Father. He does not require polished words or forced optimism. Instead, we can bring our deepest concerns to God honestly, knowing that he hears the cries of his children.

► Read Philippians 4:6–7. What is the key to living without anxiety?

Writing to believers facing many troubles, Paul said, “…do not be anxious about anything…” If we read only that phrase, it may seem impossible. How can anyone live without anxiety in a pressure-filled world? The key is found in the rest of the paragraph: “…but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

When we bring our petitions to God, we find peace. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” When we pray, we bring our needs to a God who is all-powerful, who cares for us deeply, and who is working all things for our good (Romans 8:28–29).

God does not always grant our requests, because his purposes are sometimes different from our desires. When we pray, we must remember that God is not only all-powerful, he is all-wise. When God answers, “No,” we must trust his wisdom. Prayer is not simply a means of seeking relief from our pain; prayer is also a way of surrendering to God’s perfect plan.

Instead of removing our suffering, God sometimes answers our prayer by giving strength to endure the suffering. True prayer recognizes God’s loving sovereignty over all things. Even when we do not understand the reasons for our suffering, we trust the One who holds all things in his hands. This is not a forced submission; it is trust in God’s goodness and wisdom, even when his ways are beyond our understanding.

Jesus demonstrated this kind of submission in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed a prayer of petition: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…” Then he continued with a prayer of surrender: “…nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus provides a beautiful model of surrender to the Father. He asked for relief, but he trusted the Father’s will, even when the answer was “No.”

Martin Luther once wrote that it can be a good sign when we receive the opposite of what we pray for, because God’s wisdom is greater than our wisdom.[1] Many times, we do not know what is best for us. God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9). When God does not grant our request, we accept that his will is better than our desires.

Submissive prayer trusts in God’s purposes, even when his purposes include suffering. We trust that God’s ways are good, even when we do not fully understand his purpose.

Most of us know these things in our minds. But during difficult times, the answers we know in our head can feel far from our hearts. Even though we know we should pray in times of suffering, prayer may be difficult when we face pain and turmoil.

In those times of struggle, the psalms provide a pattern for our prayer. The psalms comfort us with reminders of God’s presence; they give us words to voice our petitions to God; and they give a model of submission to God’s perfect will. The book of Psalms teaches us to pray with complete honesty in life’s darkest moments.

► Have you used the book of Psalms as a guide for prayer? Share your experience with the class.

For thousands of years, the book of Psalms has served as a prayerbook for God’s people. The psalms express the full range of human emotions - joy, sorrow, praise, thanksgiving, confession, and lament. The psalms give believers the words to voice their deepest longings, express their trust in God’s sovereignty, and seek his deliverance in times of distress.

When we pray the psalms, we join believers from many centuries who have turned to these verses in times of joy and sorrow, triumph and defeat, clarity and confusion. In the fourth century, Athanasius said: “The psalms have a unique place in the Bible because [while] most of scripture speaks to us, the psalms speak for us.”[1]

The psalms show the real emotions of real people who follow God in a broken world. Life is hard, and the psalms reflect this reality. Many of the prayers in the psalms are painfully honest. They reveal the deep struggles of people living in a world filled with injustice.

The psalms teach us that we can come to God just as we are—with our pain, confusion, and questions. Paul David Tripp wrote, “I have always thought that the psalms are in the Bible to keep us honest about the messy nature of faith in this broken world…. The Bible gives room for the voicing of our cries.”[2]

The psalmists cry out in despair, plead for justice, celebrate God’s goodness, and question his silence. They wrestle with the tension between faith in a good God and the injustice they see around them.

► Read the following passages carefully and discuss the questions:

• Psalm 3:1–2. What are David’s enemies saying to him? How would you feel if people spoke against you like this?

• Psalm 13:1. What does this question tell us about David’s feelings towards God at this moment? Have you ever felt like God was far away or slow to answer?

• Psalm 28:2. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt desperate for God’s help?

• Psalm 44:9–16. How does this psalm show that it is okay to bring our confusion to God when we don’t understand what is happening to us?

• Psalm 73:2–3. Have you ever felt discouraged when you saw wrongdoers succeed while you struggled? How does it make you feel when you see the wicked prosper and the godly suffer?

As you read through the book of Psalms, you will notice several major themes. These include God’s power and control over all things, the need for worship, the reality of suffering, and God’s unchanging love.

One of the most important types of psalm is the lament. In fact, lament is the largest category in the psalms. Out of 150 psalms, 59 are categorized as psalms of lament. The laments help us express our pain and struggles. They show that it is right to cry out to God when we are hurting.

What is a lament? Pastor Mark Vroegop gives this definition of a psalm of lament: “A lament is prayer in pain that leads to trust.”[1]

Bernhard Anderson says, “Laments are really expressions of praise, offered to God in a minor key in the confidence that [God] is faithful.”[2] In music, a minor key often sounds sad or reflective, while a major key usually brings feelings of joy or hope. Many lament psalms begin with sorrow but move to hope. They travel from despair to trust, from pain to praise.

The psalms of lament usually include five elements. Not every lament will follow this pattern, but this structure is common.

Look Up: Address God Directly

Laments usually begin by looking up to God. The psalmist may:

• Express a complaint (Psalm 129:1).

• Make a petition (Psalm 57:1).

• Ask a question (Psalm 13:1).

► Read each of the example verses listed above.

It is important that we begin our lament by looking up, by speaking to God. This first step helps us remember that God is our true source of hope and comfort during our most difficult times. When we address God at the beginning of our prayer, we acknowledge that he is in control. This gives us strength in our pain and confusion. It also allows us to communicate honestly, sharing our feelings while seeking his help and guidance. By looking to God first, we trust that he listens to our cries and walks with us through our struggles.

Look Around: Name the Problem

Many believers hesitate to admit their pain because they fear that other believers will judge them for their complaints. Rather than acknowledging his suffering, Job’s friends condemned him for complaining. There are many friends like this in churches today!

Other believers are hesitant to acknowledge their pain because they fear that their complaints will damage their relationship with God. They feel either shame (“I deserve my suffering”) or fear (“If I complain, God will be angry”).

K.J. Ramsey described the spiritual impact of suffering more than a decade of intense physical pain. She wrote:

Deep down, our greatest fear is that if we express how broken and scared we really feel, we will sink into complete darkness. We fear that expressing the depth of our discouragement will separate us from God.[1]

Many suffering believers can relate to Ramsey’s struggle. Instead of acknowledging their suffering, they pretend everything is ok. Rather than expressing their true fears, they pretend to be self-sufficient and strong.

However, the psalms of lament show that God will not judge his children who bring their complaints. As Ramsey writes, “Others might not be comfortable with our most honest, desperate cries, but the psalms make it exceedingly clear [that] God is.”[2] God does not ask that we hide our pain beneath praise. We can voice our suffering to him without fear of condemnation. He is big enough to hear our complaints.

We cannot deal with our suffering if we live in denial. The psalms of lament allow us to come to God as needy, exhausted children seeking comfort and love. In the laments, the psalmists complain about:

• Their enemies (Psalm 3:1)

• The unfairness of life (Psalm 73:3–12)

• God’s absence (Psalm 10:1)

• God’s apparent indifference to our pain (Psalm 44:23–24)

• God’s judgment (Psalm 80:12)

We know that God is not truly distant or absent. But when we are in a season of lament, the truths we know about God can feel incredibly distant. Voicing our complaints to God helps us confront the reality of our situation. It prevents us from living in denial or minimizing our pain.

The psalmists often provide vivid descriptions of their distress.

► Read Psalm 31:9–10 for an example of this.

In our prayers of lament, naming the problem is not a sign of weakness or lack of faith. Instead, it expresses trust in God’s sovereignty and compassion. Even though God already knows what we are facing, we find comfort in voicing our complaints to God.

Look Within: Express Your Innocence

Many psalms of lament contain an expression of innocence, where the psalmist boldly asserts his innocence in the face of suffering and accusation. This statement of innocence plays several important roles in the structure and meaning of the lament psalms.

(1) When the psalmist declares his own innocence, he highlights the unfairness of his suffering.

► Read Psalm 7:3–5.

This is what makes the psalms of lament so personal. Even though he remains faithful to God, the psalmist is going through unfair treatment. When he says he is innocent, it adds more emotional strength to his cry for help, making it feel more urgent.

The suffering of the innocent psalmists teaches an important lesson for us: Being faithful to God does not mean we will have a life without pain and suffering. Jesus told his followers, “…In the world, you will have tribulation.…” (John 16:33).

(2) The expression of innocence challenges God’s seeming silence or lack of action.

By claiming innocence, the psalmist reminds God of his covenant with his people. He calls on God’s sense of justice and faithfulness. Essentially, the psalmist is saying, “I have stayed true to you, Lord; now please keep your promise and rescue me!”

This can be seen in Psalm 26:1, where the psalmist cries out, “Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” These declarations urge God to act in accordance with his character, to recognize the faithfulness of his people, and to ensure justice by helping them in their time of need.

Look Back: Remember God’s Past Works

When you are praying a lament, it is important to remember what God has done in the past. Remembering who God is and what he has done sustains our faith when we are suffering. This practice is a powerful act of faith and trust. The psalmists’ appeal to God is grounded in their memory of his past actions.

In Psalm 77, the psalmist wrestles with feelings of abandonment and despair. However, when he remembers how God led his people through the Red Sea, it shifts his focus to God’s past faithfulness.

► Read Psalm 77:10–20.

Psalm 44 starts with a memory of God’s past deeds on behalf of Israel:

O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free (Psalm 44:1–2).

Yet, the psalm quickly turns to a present crisis, where the community feels abandoned:

But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies (Psalm 44:9).

Despite Israel’s suffering, the psalmist’s appeal is grounded in the history of God’s faithfulness to their ancestors. God’s faithfulness in the past is a basis for Israel’s plea for help today:

Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! (Psalm 44:26).

By remembering who God is—glorious, mighty, and exalted—the psalmist can move from lament to praise. Reflecting on God’s character can transform our perspective even when our circumstances remain unchanged. Remembering who God is and what he has done anchors our soul in the midst of our suffering. It reminds us that the God who acted in the past will continue to act on our behalf now.

Look Up: End with Praise and Trust

Many of the psalms of lament end where they begin: by looking up to God. A biblical lament is designed to lead us to a faith-filled renewal of what we know to be true about God. As Pastor Mark Vroegop says, “Pain can become a platform for worship.”[3]

The psalms of lament often contain a pivotal word or phrase that signals the shift from sorrow to hope. This movement from distress to renewed trust serves as a profound reminder of the purpose of lament in our lives. The purpose of biblical lament is not only to express pain and sorrow but also to lead us to a place of trust, anchoring our hearts in the truth of who God is. In prayer, we move from lament to trust.

Some examples of this shift include:

• Psalm 13

Lament: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1).

Shift to Trust: “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:5–6).

• Psalm 22

Lament: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” (Psalm 22:1).

Shift to Trust: “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him” (Psalm 22:24).

• Psalm 30

Lament: “To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: ‘What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?’” (Psalm 30:8–9).

Shift to Trust: “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Psalm 30:11–12).

• Psalm 42

Lament: “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3).

Shift to Trust: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

• Psalm 77

Lament: “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time?” (Psalm 77:7–8).

Shift to Trust: “Then I said, ‘I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old” (Psalm 77:10–11).

These verses demonstrate the psalmists’ journey from sorrow to hope in God’s faithfulness.

The 20th-century theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer found great strength in prayer while he was imprisoned by the Nazis. His letters from prison show how deeply he relied on communion with God. Knowing that he faced death, Bonhoeffer often turned to the psalms for encouragement. He called the book of Psalms, “the great school of prayer.”[1] For Bonhoeffer, prayer was not an escape from suffering but a means of walking with God through suffering. The psalms taught Bonhoeffer how to express both his deepest hurts and his willing submission to God.

Bonhoeffer explained that the psalms teach us to pray using the words God gave us in scripture. “The child learns to speak because the parent speaks to the child. The child learns the language of the parent. So we learn to speak to God because God has spoken and speaks to us…. Repeating God’s own words, we begin to pray to God.”[2]

As you finish this lesson, practice this pattern in your own life. Learn to pray the psalms. When words fail, scripture gives us a language for prayer. Whether it is the plea for mercy in Psalm 6, the longing for God in despair in Psalm 42, or the declaration of God’s watchful care in Psalm 121, the psalms lead us to the God who hears and comforts us in suffering.

As you pray, follow this pattern:

• Look up: Address God directly.

• Look around: Name the problem.

• Look within: Express your innocence.

• Look back: Remember God’s past works.

• Look up: End with praise and trust.

By using this pattern in your prayer life, you will not only find a way to express your sorrows but you will also cultivate a deeper relationship with God. You will learn that lament is a pathway to renewal, healing, joy, praise, and hope. As you practice, you will discover that your prayers are transformed from cries of despair into declarations of trust and praise—from the minor key of pain to the major key of praise.

► Pray one of the psalms. Each class member should pray one verse from the psalm you select. Choose from the following psalms: Psalm 3, 7, 10, 13, 22, 28, 30, 42, 44, 51, 57, 77, or 80.

(1) This week, pray one or more of the psalms of lament during your prayer time each day. You can choose from these psalms:

• Psalm 3,
• Psalm 7,
• Psalm 10,
• Psalm 13,
• Psalm 22,
• Psalm 28,
• Psalm 30,
• Psalm 42,
• Psalm 44,
• Psalm 51,
• Psalm 57,
• Psalm 77,
• or Psalm 80.

Pray the psalm following the pattern outlined in this lesson. During this week, keep a journal in which you record the lessons you learn from praying the psalms of lament.

(2) Memorize Psalm 13. You will write or recite this scripture at the beginning of your next class.