We hear often from you, from listeners, writing us in a moment when life's pain is so sharp

and so persistent that you look up at heaven and you want to yell out.

Maybe you do yell out.

You say, I wish I was never born.

Lament.

There are seasons to learn about lament, not seasons to learn about lament inside the pain

that brings us near the breaking point, but in quieter times, times to talk about

lament when the pain isn't too sharp.

Because the Bible seems to draw a very specific line.

There's a holy lament, and there's a wrong way to complain to God.

So where is that line?

It comes up in a question from Connie, who lives in Reno, Nevada.

Pastor John, chronic illness often makes me question God's love for me.

In Jeremiah 2014, the prophet himself cries out.

Cursed be the day that I was born.

Is such raw lament even permissible for the believer, or is this blasphemous? I felt this same thought

and bubble up in my own mind and heart, but I'm afraid to voice it. Seems greatly dishonoring to the

creator to wish to have never existed. How can I honestly express deep sorrow without doubting

his goodness? Does lament deep in faith or does it

risk leading me into unbelief? I long to grieve faithfully, but feel lost in the tension between

pain and trust. There is a way to define lament so that it is a sin. And there is a way to define lament so that it is not a

sin. So we can't simply endorse lament without defining what we mean. So let me make five statements. I've been wanting to do this for a long

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