[Hey Won’t You Play] Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song…in Church?

I recently finished reading Mark Vroegop's excellent book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The book is profoundly encouraging and instructive about the biblical pattern of Christian lament. He notes that one-third of the Psalms are lament psalms, and they instruct us on how to turn to God, complain to God, ask God for help, and trust God’s character.

Each step of lament is a part of a pathway toward hope. In the address, the heart is turned to God in prayer. Complaint clearly and bluntly lays out the reasons behind the sorrow. From there, the lamenter usually makes a request for God to act—to do something. Finally, nearly everly lament ends with renewed trust and praise.

One helpful point Vroegop makes is that lament is virtually absent in most Christian hymnody and corporate worship. He cites a few studies showing the lack of lament songs in both hymnals (20%) and modern music (<5%). The church could help her people by providing a memorable language of lament in music. Church history offers such examples, particularly in the writing of Isaac Watts. Lately, in my devotions, I’ve stumbled upon several examples of poetic, theologically robust lament that I found particularly helpful. I pray they prove useful to you as well.

O that I knew the secret place
Where I might find my God!
I'd spread my wants before His face,
And pour my woes abroad.

I'd tell Him how my sins arise,
What sorrows I sustain,
How grace decays, and comfort dies,
And leaves my heart in pain.

He knows what arguments I'd take
To wrestle with my God;
I'd plead for His own mercy's sake,
And for my Savior's blood.

My God will pity my complaints,
And heal my broken bones;
He takes the meaning of His saints,
The language of their groans.

Arise, my soul, from deep distress,
And banish every fear;
He calls thee to His throne of grace,
To spread thy sorrows there.

Isaac Watts (1721)

I love the stanza, “My God will pity my complaints and heal my broken bones. He takes the meaning of his saints, the language of their groans.” He understands the language of our laments!

Will God forever cast me off?
His promise ever fail?
Has He forgot His tender love?
Shall anger still previal?

I call His mercies to my mind,
Which I enjoyed before;
And will the Lord no more be kind?
His face appear no more?

But I forbid this hopeless thought,
This dark, despairing frame,
Remembering wha His hand hath wrought;
His hand is still the same.

Isaac Watts (1719)

This Watts hymn paraphrases Psalm 77:7–9, “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? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”””

Again, I advocate using a hymnal in your devotions, but I also advocate using lament songs in worship if you can. We have a lot to celebrate as Christians, but we mourn, too. We grieve. We lament. God has given us language to do so. Let’s use it, even sing it.

As Vroegop notes, “Lament is the transition from pain to promise; the path from heartbreak to hope.” Amen.