Emotive music is really striking a chord these days

5 min read

I clicked on the YouTube video out of curiosity. It was another viral sensation…millions of views in just days. And it only took a few seconds to realize that there was something different going on with this song, something that engaged in a way that most songs do not.

I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. The artist had incredible vocal range and his resonator guitar a cool banjo-type sound, but was there something else?

As I thought about it, I wondered if it wasn’t the unleashing of negative emotions in this song that had magnetized so many?

As he belts out the blues, the singer’s face turns a deep shade of red. What he sings is obviously coming from way down deep in his heart. He isn’t just singing the lyrics, he feels them. The words describe how messed up things have become and he’s had enough. He can’t keep it in any longer.

And our hearts agree with him.

We may not agree on every point, but we agree that things are not what they could be or what they should be and enough is enough. We join in, because we, too, are revolted at what we are seeing and hearing every single day.

The fiery crooner’s testimony to the sad state of affairs in which we find ourselves resonates with our hearts.

This is Lament

Since way back in time lament has had its place as a valid genre of poetry and music. The Psalms of the Bible, for example, have almost as much lament in them as they do praise and thanksgiving.

In Psalm 6, David incorporates a lament into his worship of God. He prays and asks God for help but doesn’t bother trying to hold back how he feels. Without pretense, he says:

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? (v. 2-3)

In lament, the worshiper doesn’t avoid telling God how badly they feel about life at a given moment. I call it emotive prayer because it gives space for expressing to God the hard, complicated, and unpleasant emotions that we may be feeling. Because the lamenter trusts that God already knows what they are feeling anyway and that He will not reject them for their honesty, they say it. They bluntly say the unsayable.

That’s the value of lament. It allows the worshiper to lament the lamentable things in life. And, this is important, God hears them. He doesn’t plug his ears or roll his eyes. He receives their lament as much as he receives their praise.

Just in Time

You may have noticed, by the way, that lament is making somewhat of a comeback these days. We’re hearing more about it in books, podcasts, and sermons. This is a good thing and the timing is significant.

For generations, this forthright manner of praying has been lost on the evangelical church. Somewhere along the way we got the impression that lament was no longer appropriate, nor did it fit into the New Testament Christian experience.

But given where we find ourselves, in very challenging times and with increasing levels of all things bad, we are presented with an opportunity to rediscover the place of lament. As difficult emotions swirl and as our mental health is pressed to the limits, we are prompted to find resources to help us manage.

For generations, this forthright manner of praying has been lost on the evangelical church. Somewhere along the way we got the impression that lament was no longer appropriate nor did it fit into the New Testament Christian experience.

And lament is just that. A resource to help us manage when life is hard and our hearts are a mess. From Moses forward, the faithful have always found in lament a safe and sanctified space to release our inner tensions to God. It was lament that helped our predecessors in the faith to cope with their unmet expectations and disappointments in this world while they waited on the Lord and placed their hopes in Him.

The Tension

But what about “Rejoice in the Lord always” as Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:4? If we lament to God doesn’t that offend the principle of rejoicing always? Not necessarily. We can rejoice in the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord while also lamenting the difficulties of life in this world. They are not mutually exclusive.

The same Paul who said rejoice always also described the paradox of the Christ-centered life. In 2 Corinthians 6:9-11, for example, he described himself as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Just because you have reason in Christ to rejoice always doesn’t mean you have to deny the reality that sometimes there is sadness, sorrow, or a host of other things going on in your heart.

No, expressing grief, anxiety, fears, frustrations, doubts, etc. to God isn’t a betrayal of our constant joy in Jesus. Rather, for now anyway, it is a righteous outlet that God himself has given us to process our pain and move us along in the process of transformation. Rather than stuffing these feelings or ignoring them in Jesus’ Name, we can share them with the One who knows already yet invites us to tell him about it anyway.

Lament is good. Lament is from God. Thank God for lament.

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.