Scripture in Action

Aneel Aranha is an author, preacher, and evangelist who has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. You can find a huge selection of his reflections, articles, sermons, songs and other resources on his app.

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Scripture in Action

Day 206

October 14, 2025 • Aneel Aranha • Season 3 • Episode 206

0:00 | 24:26

Journey through grief and hope in Lamentations, Psalm 137, and 1 Peter 4, discovering how God's faithfulness sustains us through suffering and calls us to faithful endurance.

Day 206 – Tears That Still Pray

Lamentations
Psalm 137
1 Peter 4

Some of us grew up believing that good Christians don't cry in front of God. We smile, we say we're fine, and we keep our sorrow to ourselves. Today's readings gently undo that idea. Lamentations is a funeral song for a city. Jerusalem has fallen, and the poet grieves with nothing held back. Four of its five poems follow the Hebrew alphabet, as if he's mourning from A to Z. But right in the middle of the darkest chapter, he stops and says, "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope." God's compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Psalm 137 takes us to the rivers of Babylon, where the exiles hung their harps on the poplars. They couldn't bring themselves to sing. The psalm ends with a prayer so raw it shocks us. But notice where they take that anger. They take it to God. Then Peter tells believers facing a fiery ordeal not to be surprised. Keep trusting your faithful Creator, he says, and keep doing good. Read side by side, these passages show that grief and faith are not enemies.

At the heart of these readings is a simple truth. God invites you to bring him your deepest grief, honestly. And it's right there, inside that honest prayer, that hope begins to rise again.

So what might this look like in your day?

First, pray a short lament of your own, in five simple parts. Tell God what you've lost, what you feel, and what you fear. Then tell him what you know is true about him, and what you're asking him to do. Say it out loud, slowly, as a prayer.

Second, reach out to someone who is grieving. Bring a meal, pay a visit, or send a simple message. Don't try to fix it or explain it. Sometimes love just means sitting with someone in the ashes.

Third, tomorrow morning, before you pick up your phone, name one fresh mercy from God. Then make Lamentations your first prayer of the day. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.

Let this stay with you today. Lament isn't a lack of faith. It's faith that refuses to stop talking to God. So keep talking to him, even through the tears.

Thank you for joining me today. May God give you honest words for your sorrow, a friend to sit with you in it, and fresh mercy with every sunrise. Until tomorrow, bring him everything and trust him with all of it.