Let’s be honest–life can be really hard.
You have a lot of spinning plates. You have a marriage to care for. There are kids and their education to see to. Your household needs running. Your church family has needs of its own.
Sometimes things don’t go as planned. In fact, sometimes, they all seem to fall apart.
You can go to God in prayer, even when times are hard.
Lamenting the Right Way
The devotional I wrote for you, 60 Scriptures You Can Pray, covers eight types of prayer–including prayers of lament. In it, I share more about lamenting the biblical way.
A lament is a structured prayer in which the person praying shares her pain and sorrow with God. She asks God for help and then she proclaims trust in His help. Because she knows God will hear her prayer, a lament often includes praise. (60 Scriptures You Can Pray, pp. 131)
When we lament, we are not complaining against God’s will for our lives. Instead, we are humbly bringing our pain and sorrow to him. We ask him for help, express our trust in his sovereign ability and willingness to help us, and we praise him for who he is–our rescuer and our God.
Lamenting isn’t complicated, but it does have a God-given structure to it.
Go to God in Prayer | Bible Verses for Hard Times
The Bible is full of instruction about prayer. Isn’t that wonderful? God doesn’t leave us wondering what to do when times get tough. He gives us clear direction!
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 14:18-19, ESV)
But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. (Jude 1:20-21)
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words. (Psalm 17:6)
In times of trouble, we call on the Lord. He will hear us and answer us. He saves us!
We pray in the Holy Spirit, building up our faith. The Spirit intercedes for us, even when we don’t know what to pray. He helps us by praying for us.
Nothing (zilch, nada, not one thing) can separate us from Christ’s love for us.
Now that you are convinced that God wants to hear from us during hard times, you can study the prayers of lament prayed by seven people in Scripture.
Prayers of Lament in the Bible
You can lament biblically, as Scripture outlines for us, as you learn about prayers of lament in the Bible that were prayed by people in Scripture.
The devotional I wrote for you, 60 Scriptures You Can Pray (Whitaker House, 2026) has eight types of prayer you will learn about. Here are the devotions you’ll study covering biblical prayers of lament!
- Why, Lord? | Exodus 5
- Blessed Be the Name of the Lord | Job 1
- My Soul is Troubled | Psalm 6
- Hope in God | Psalm 42
- I Am in Distress | Lamentations 1:20-22
- The God of All Grace | 1 Peter 5:6-11
- How Long, Lord? | Revelation 6:9-11
This year, learn more about prayer–and lament biblically!
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60 Scriptures You Can Pray
The Bible is full of prayer that you can pray too!
How do you pray when you don’t know what to say? The Bible holds the answer.
God doesn’t expect us to pray without guidance. In fact, Scripture is full of examples of ordinary people approaching our extraordinary God in prayer.
Award-winning author Danika Cooley believes that praying God’s Word teaches us how to best communicate with our Lord:
“There are so many lessons we can learn from Scripture about how to approach God and what to expect when we do.”
Danika’s devotional 60 Scriptures You Can Pray covers eight types of prayer from the Bible, the expectations we should have when we pray, and the right heart attitude for prayer.
- Praise | We adore God for who he is.
- Thanksgiving | We thank God for all he has done.
- Confession | We admit our sin to the God who saves us.
- Supplication | We humbly ask God to provide for our needs.
- Intercession | We ask God to meet the needs of others.
- Deliverance | We cry out to God for help in times of trouble.
- Lament | We bring our sorrow to God, our comforter.
- Guidance | We ask for God’s help in determining his will for our lives.
When you read 60 Scriptures You Can Pray, you will:
- Develop a habit of praying daily over a two-month period
- Learn more about prayer in Scripture
- Understand eight different types of prayer
- Expand your understanding of how to pray biblically
- Become better acquainted with God, His Word, and why we pray
Packed with thoughtful explanations of biblical prayer and practical application in each devotion, 60 Scriptures You Can Pray is the tool you need to learn more about prayer–straight from God’s Word.
Want to equip the women in your church to pray biblically?
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