Read: Psalm 142: 1-2 Listen: Psalm 142

I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. Psalm 142:2

Psalms of laments are raw and passionate prayers of people in grief, sorrow, mourning or distress. Here, David says he pours out his complaint to God. It’s significant to note the direction of David’s complaint. He complains to God, not about God. It’s an honest conversation with God about what’s going on in his life and how he feels. Honestly telling God what’s wrong is the first part of a prayer of lament.

Our culture seems to be pretty good at complaint. But psalms of lament don’t give us a blank check to complain about whatever we want, whenever we want. A lament is a directed complaint as one part of a prayer. It’s complaining to God. But many of our complaints, if we’re honest about them, are about God. We don’t even realize we’re doing it. We complain to our friends, family or co-workers that we don’t have enough or that things aren’t fair or even that it’s raining when we don’t want it to. It's complaining about what God has or hasn’t done for us. Lament talks to God, not complain about him to others. David gives us a powerful example of turning to God with our complaint. It’s okay, and it’s the right place to express our frustration.

TODAY: Throughout this week, we’re going to lament in sections. Today, we will collect different complaints and express them to God. Open your journal and write “Laments” at the top. Make a list of things you’d like God to do something about. Write one-to-two sentences of complaint prayers about how each item makes you feel. Tomorrow, we will ask God to intervene in those areas and on Thursday, we will express our trust in God in the midst of our current season.