Psalms of Lament

I am a part of the ministerial here in my town. Today, one of the local Pastors led a devotion based on Psalm 13:

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him," lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalms 13:1-6)

We were challenged to then write our own laments in groups of 3 and to be real and honest with the Lord. Not in doubt but in faith letting our hearts cry out to God. So in my group the ideas were put forth and the lament, or prayer, came out of a brief discussion of how many in the body are struggling, ourselves included. So this became our prayer today:

O Lord why do we struggle? Why do we kick against the goads? We hide our hurts and pains, our disunity, anger, the truth. We need the light of your love to shine into the dark places, and yet You O Lord are faithful. Your ways our higher than ours. We will trust in you O Lord to help us shed our masks.

I want to encourage you to write some praises and some laments. Speak them out if you are uncomfortable writing. Let your heart break forth in praise when you are happy and lament when you are sad.