Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament

Book Description:

Lament is how you live between the poles of a hard life and trusting God's goodness.

Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God-but it is a neglected dimension of the Christian life for many Christians today. We need to recover the practice of honest spiritual struggle that gives us permission to vocalize our pain and wrestle with our sorrow. Lament avoids trite answers and quick solutions, progressively moving us toward deeper worship and trust.

Exploring how the Bible - through the psalms of lament and the book of Lamentations - gives voice to our pain, this book invites us to grieve, struggle, and tap into the rich reservoir of grace and mercy God offers in the darkest moments of our lives.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Joni Eareckson Tada 
Introduction: Life in a Minor Key | A Personal Journey
Part 1: Learning to Lament | Psalms of Lament
1. Keep Turning to Prayer | Psalm 77
2. Bring Your Complaints | Psalm 10
3. Ask Boldly | Psalm 22
4. Choose to Trust | Psalm 13
Part 2: Learning from Lament | Lamentations
5. A Broken World and a Holy God | Lamentations 1-2
6. Hope Springs from Truth Rehearsed | Lamentations 3
7. Unearthing Idols | Lamentations 4
8. A Roadmap to Grace | Lamentations 5
Part 3: Living with Lament | Personal and Community Applications
9. Making Lament Personal
10. Let Us Lament
Conclusion: Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy | The Journey Ahead
Appendix 1 Twenty Complaints
Appendix 2 Psalms of Lament
Appendix 3 Learning-to-Lament Worksheet
Appendix 4 But, Yet, And

Author:

Mark Vroegop (MDiv, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary) is the lead pastor of College Park Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a conference speaker, a council member with the Gospel Coalition, a trustee of Cedarville University, and the author of Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. Mark blogs at markvroegop.com.

Endorsements:

"I had never read a book like this before. If you are hurting or trying to help someone who is, or if you are attempting to lead your church to recover and experience what God's Word teaches about lament, this is a book you will want to read."
--Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

"Born in a father's grief and marked with a pastor's wisdom, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy teaches each of us and the church how to pray along the journey of loss and despair. Vroegop presents biblical guidelines for bringing honest complaint and bold petition before God and for choosing to steadfastly trust in the One whose mercies never end."
--M. Daniel Carroll R., Blanchard Professor of Old Testament, Wheaton College

"Too often Christians feel the pressure to pretend the gospel diminishes pain, while others lament their pain void of biblical truth and hope. I have longed for years for a book to demonstrate a balance on this issue. Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy captures beautifully the unique and powerful grace of the gospel in Christian lament. The book is well written, winsome, and refreshingly transparent. I wept as I read it."
--Brian Croft, Senior Pastor, Auburndale Baptist Church, Louisville; Founder, Practical Shepherding; Senior Fellow, Church Revitalization, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Additional Information: