The Importance of Psalms of Lament in Christian Theology

Running head: CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
Christian Theology
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Author Note

1CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
The purpose of the following essay is to discuss about the psalms of lament. The psalms
of lament and joy are essential documents of the Christian theology. These psalms help the
human beings to understand the problems of the human beings in their lives. Both the psalms of
the joy and sorrow are crucial because te psalms of sorrow or lament help the individuals to
understand how they can cope up with the difficult times in their lives. This is also essential
because people face difficult times in their lives and they would like to come out of it by the
messages of love and peace from Jesus Christ in the Bible.
The psalms of joy are also very much relevant in this scenario as well. In these psalms,
people are advised how they should behave in their difficult times and not get flown away by
joy. Difficult times might arrive in their lives and they have to realize both joy and sorrow are
important phases of their lives. If they enjoy their joyous moments, they must learn to tackle with
their sad moments as well. The psalms of lament are crucial because people generally lose their
faith in God when they go through very sorrowful moments. In this essay, the discussions will be
made on the importance of the psalms of lament. The psalm of lament that will be discussed here
is that of the Costly Loss of Lament by Walter Bruegermann.1 The ways the worshippers will be
able to form a deeper sense of unity with God will be discussed here.
Recently, the psalms of lament have gained greater significance than previous times. It is
due to the fact that people in the current times face a lot of complications and uncertainties
because their lives have become very much complicated. In this discourse, it is quite important
that the worshippers take the help of these lament psalms. The Costly Loss of Lament is also one
1 Brueggemann, Walter. "The costly loss of lament." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11, no. 36 (1986):
57-71.

2CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
such psalm in which the worshippers have been able to establish a sense of communion. The
Omnipotent God always takes care of His followers in their difficult times. This is why
worshipping communities confess their guilt to God and ask for salvation from the sins. They
come to realize that their difficult times might be the reason for their sins. So, they take the help
of God only to escape from that sin. The believers of faith and liturgy of Israel can be discussed
in this context. The person who has done enough research on this issue is Claus Westermann.2
He has outlined crucial factors that are significant for the worshipping communities. The
worshippers should address the main reasons for their difficult times and ask God what they
should do to get better. When one goes through extreme pain and suffering in their world, they
should always opt for psalms of lament and listen to the messages from God and Holy Scripture.
Some or the other painful things always takes place in people’s lives and this psalm of lament is
something they can account for. The loss or grief in the lives of the individuals can be overcome
by the human beings through worshipping to God only. God is the benevolent ntity in the world
who has always thought of His followers in their difficult times. This chosen psalm has been a
very effective element of giving the opportunity to all the people to overcome their laments to
live a better life in the future.
As per the words of Claus Westermann, the laments of the human beings will surely end
by the praise. When someone gets to praise the other for their efforts to overcome the difficult
times in their lives, it is surely one of the best moments that one can achieve in life.3 Wetsremann
2 Brueggemann, Walter. "The costly loss of lament." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11, no. 36 (1986):
57-71.
3 Graham, Wyatt A. "The Psalms as Christian Lament: A Historical Commentary." Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society 58, no. 1 (2015): 169.

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has been very much active in proving that the success of psalms is to move from plea to praise.
The lives of the human beings can be surely changed when someone has highlighted his or her
good works in lives. This is the reason Westermann’s points have been very much valid indeed.
The condition of the concerned person goes through a proper transformation because of these
things. When someone is deeply in grief, God intervenes in this mentally traumatic situation and
He tends to solve the problems of that person. This is how plea turns to praise with the
intervention of God. In this psalm, the author has again the drawn the works of Claus
Westermannn and mentions of the song of thanksgiving. These songs of thanksgiving will surly
resolve the laments of people in the society.4 The correspondence between the thanksgiving and
praise is also something very important to be noted in this scenario. The laments always tend to
end in the plea i.e. the gateway to the resolution of all the problems. The issue of life setting for
the laments has been a very crucial fact as well. However, Westermann in his works has not
discussed of the significance of cult in his writings. Therefore, it has been one of the unresolved
factors associated with lament.
In other ways, it can also be said that Brueggermann has discussed about the lament in a
form that it can lead to the overall development of personalities within the human beings.
Through describing his points, he has used the analogy of the relationship between the mother
and the child.5 The responsiveness to various actions is crucial from every aspect in this scenario.
4 Ásgeirsdóttir, Guðlaug Helga, Einar Sigurbjörnsson, Ewan Kelly, Rannveig Traustadóttir, Sigríður Gunnarsdóttir,
and Valgerður Sigurðardóttir. "Out of the depths: theology and spirituality within palliative care." Studia
Theologica-Nordic Journal of Theology 68, no. 2 (2014): 147-168.
5 Brueggemann, Walter. "The costly loss of lament." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11, no. 36 (1986):
57-71.