A Prayer about Expressing Our Grief Honestly

Lord, God,

So many people I know right now are grieving—

Grieving deep disappointments over lost hopes and dreams; 

grieving divisions in friends and families as well as in our nation; 

grieving the death of loved ones.

In such a season, 

we are grateful that you wrote into your Word 

an honest lament like Psalm 88, 

one of the least-cross-stitched, least memed, 

least quoted Psalms in the Bible. 

As we read the honest words of this Son of Korah:

“You have caused my companions to shun me; 

you have made me a horror to them. 

I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 

my eye grows dim with sorrow….” (Psalm 88:8-9a),

we may even wonder if there is any faith, 

any hope to be found in such a Psalm.

Indeed, Psalm 88 expresses strong faith, 

the faith to trust God with the dark emotions of grief 

and the questions that seem to have no answers. 

Psalm 88 also expresses powerful hope, 

the hope that God is listening, 

even if he has not yet answered. 

Thank you for welcoming our cries of normal grief 

and for standing ready to meet us in our confusion. 

Thank you for answering the Psalmist’s cry: 

in Jesus, you have worked wonders for the dead; 

in Jesus, the departed do rise up to praise you.

One day soon, Jesus will return, 

and we will rest in his loving presence.

In Jesus’ kind name. Amen. 

Read Psalm 88.