I agree with the following comments regarding the recent decision of the Supreme Court to declare same-sex as a constitutional right. ” [It]will have wide-ranging and perilous consequences for the stability of families and for freedom of religion” (Russell Moore).  We are being asked to “walk away from millennia of history and the reality of human nature” (Tony Perkins).  Scripture warns us about losing touch with realiity.  “And so I insist – and God backs me up on this – that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd.  They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore.  Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion” (Eph. 4:17-19).  This is what is happening in America!

So what can a man do?  Let me suggest the prayers of lament or complaint. As I to grapple with the rapidly changing moral climate in culture, I need a means to deal with my frustration that can boil over into anger. The Psalms give me the language of lament.  More then half of the psalms are laments.  “The lament psalms teach us to pray our inner conflicts and contradictions….they give us permission to shake our fist at God one moment and break into doxology  the next” (Foster). One of my favorites is Ps. 13.  It begins with, “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?”  It ends with. “I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me”. (Other favorites – Ps. 5, 25, 35, 41, 56,  141 and 143)

Here are four way these Psalms can help you.  First, they help you handle your emotion baggage.  God know better then you, what is going on in your soul. So get it up and out.  Don’t let negative emotions take away your peace and confidence during the coming darkness.  The Spirit helps with our inner struggles.  “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom 8:26).   Men, God can handle your frustrations, anger, and disappointment.  Get it out through lament.

Secondly, getting your emotions out by means of the Psalms of lament, enables you to sort out those emotions with language borrowed from the Psalmist.   I want to warn you that in the days to come  men will face a very a strong headwind of  anti-Christian bias, that will test our endurance and character.  Jesus warned us, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:12-13).  You will be tested not only mentally but also emotionally.

Thirdly, having identified your emotions in the psalms,  you can pray the Psalm back to God as a prayer.  For example, you can rest in the Lord, knowing that he will content for me. “Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.  Take up shield and armor; arise and come to my aid” (Ps 35:1-2).  What relief –  God will fight on your behalf against all odds.

Fourthly, and most importantly, you can close on a positive note rather then complaint.  “For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Ps.56:13).  I don’t know about you, but I need this promise.  In the midst of the encroaching darkness, I am able to walk in “light of life.”