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Judges 5: Victory & Vulnerability—Learning to Lament

  • Writer: Kami Pentecost
    Kami Pentecost
  • May 16
  • 2 min read

Does anyone else notice the back-and-forth tone of Deborah’s song? It was a celebration. Victory had been won. Also tucked inside the praise was this very human expression of disappointment—even frustration.

“‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.’” (Judges 5:23 NKJV)

It’s not all smiles and hallelujahs here. There’s a naming of those who stayed home when the fight was on. This caught my attention for sure. It was like praise and lament all in one!


I don’t know if anyone ever directly told me that it’s not okay to be negative, or if it’s just a story I picked up along the way, but somewhere, I started believing that any time I expressed frustration, disappointment, or sadness, I needed to quickly pivot to something positive. While, yes, there’s wisdom in guarding our words and attitudes, there’s also power in lamenting.


One of the most freeing lessons I’ve learned—honestly in just the last few years—is that lament is not weakness. It’s not whining. It’s worship.

It’s an invitation to bring the whole, unfiltered, messy heart before the Lord.


For a long time, I struggled reading David’s psalms because I thought, “Man, this guy is so dramatic.” But now I see it. David wasn’t whining—he was processing. In doing so, he was teaching us where to take our pain, our frustrations, and even our anger. Straight to the only One big enough to handle it.


Deborah’s song reminds me today that it’s okay to feel the sting of disappointment.

It’s okay to call it what it is. At the very same time, I can lift my eyes in gratitude for the victories God has brought. Maybe lamenting is actually part of the strategy God built into our design—not as a roadblock to praise, but as a bridge to healing and true authentic worship.

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