Hurting with God: Learning to Lament with the Psalms

Giving new hope to the weary, this book brings together scholarship and personal experience to understand the necessity of lament language through the exploration of the Psalms.

Many writers have considered the question, ''Why do bad things happen to good people?'' Pemberton, however, sets this philosophical issue aside to consider the practical. How do believers live out faith in prolonged seasons of pain and loss? How can we live with God when it hurts - and continues to hurt? Drawing from his own daily struggle with chronic pain and years of reading and teaching the Psalms, Pemberton leads readers on a quest to recover a lost ancient resource for people of faith--the language of lament. The book of Psalms brings out the reality and presence of lament in ancient days, indeed laments make up a third of the Psalter. Through the exploration and study of imagery and language, Pemberton revitalizes this forgotten tool to rejuvenate those who seek to connect with God in times of struggle.

GLENN PEMBERTON teaches Old Testament at Abilene Christian University, including a popular undergraduate course on Israel's wisdom and devotional literature. As a preacher among churches for over twenty years and a student curious about many things, Glenn looks for the connections between God's created order and a life lived by faith. He earned his PhD from the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology. He has published various essays on Proverbs and one book, When God Calls (21st Century Christian, 2007). Glenn and his wife Dana live in Abilene, Texas.