One of my favorite things about Scripture is how people argue with God. They complain to Him about the suffering they’re experiencing.

I love that because it means that we can be open about the bad things that happen to us, and the suffering we experience. In Biblical spirituality, you do not need to pretend that life is all roses and you never suffer. God cares about your suffering. You can acknowledge it to Him. In fact, God wants you to speak to Him about it.

Isn’t it human nature to complain? We need to give voice to those pains. And you see those complaints in the Bible. For example, whole Psalms are known as the “lament Psalms.”

However, there are godly and ungodly ways of lamenting to God. So what is a faith-filled way to voice your complaints to God?

In Fruit for the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms, author Dennis Ngien says that God knows you need to lament to move from grief to relief:

“The chief function of a lament is to provide a structure for crisis, pain, grief, or despair, which in turn facilitates a movement ‘out of the depths;” (Ngien, Fruit, p. xxxi).

So what does it mean to lament? Ngien says the lament Psalms have the following ingredients:

Generally lament Psalms have as many as five basic constituents: address to God in pain, complaint to God, confession of faith, prayer to God, and doxology (Ngien, Fruit, p. xxix).

And here is the structure that Ngien sees in the Psalms of lament:

1. Address to God in affliction
2. Complaint to God about affliction.
   1. Statement of trouble
   2. Description of enemies
   3. Complaint against God’s indifference
3. Expression of faith in affliction
   1. Trust in God’s grace
   2. Trust in God’s help
4. Petition to God in affliction
   1. Imprecation against enemies
   2. Evangelical concern for his enemies
   3. Pleas for God’s deliverance
5. Praise of God in affliction
   1. Pondering God’s mighty works
   2. Promise of thanks offering or praise
   3. Gratitude for anticipated help (Ngien, Fruit, p. xxix-xxx).

Throughout history, many saints have found consolation in praying with the Psalms and using them to name their pain, voice their despair, but also, ultimately, to find consolation. The lament Psalms teach us that it is right to complain to God. However, to move from grief to relief, let the Psalms give structure to your lamentation, reminding you to also speak of your trust in Him and to petition Him for deliverance.

Affliction will give rise to complaints to God, but as in the Psalms, let your complaints ultimately lead you to thanksgiving and praise.