9 Notable Quotes from ‘Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy’
This article is part of the Notable Quotes series.
Learn the Language of Lament
Even as Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God, we can feel confused—or frustrated—when suffering comes. Lament gives us a language to express our grief and sorrow to God, while asking him to lead us to deeper trust. The following quotes are from Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament by Mark Vroegop.
“Lament is how you live between the poles of a hard life and trusting in God’s sovereignty. Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God. Without lament we won’t know how to process pain.”
“A broken world and an increasingly hostile culture make contemporary Christianity unbalanced and limited in the hope we offer if we neglect the minor-key song [of lament]. We need to recover the ancient practice of lament and the grace that comes through it. Christianity suffers when lament is missing.”
“Lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust.”
“You need to know that lament does not always lead to an immediate solution. It does not always bring a quick or timely answer. Grief is not tame. Lament is not a simplistic formula. Instead, lament is the song you sing believing that one day God will answer and restore. Lament invites us to pray through our struggle with a life that is far from perfect.”
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy
Mark Vroegop
This book seeks to restore the lost art of lament in order to help readers discover the power of honest wrestling with the questions that come with grief and suffering.
“If you’re going to offer a complaint to God, it must be done with a humble heart.”
“Pain has a way of awakening us to our need for God’s help. It shines a spotlight on our powerlessness to control everything. We are never more aware of our frailty than when hardship comes our way. This is one of the blessings of suffering if we allow lament to lead us. The various trials of life can become a platform to reaffirm our dependence upon the Lord. The requests of lament can become the place where we celebrate our need for God’s help.”
“Trust is believing what you know to be true even though the facts of suffering might call that belief into question.”
“Every Christian has a record of God’s steadfast love. Therefore, we should remind ourselves about God’s worthiness to be trusted. To be a Christian means trusting in what God says and who he is. We came to faith that way. We trusted that the Bible is true. We believed forgiveness is possible for those who receive Christ. Trusting in God’s grace welcomed us into God’s family. But that was only the beginning. Christians don’t leave behind trusting God after coming to faith. On the contrary, being a follower of Jesus requires that we walk through life in continual trust. Seasons of suffering are no different.”
“To lament is Christian as we turn to God in prayer, lay out our complaints, ask boldly, and choose to trust.”
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