Exegesis of Psalm 142

Is complaint against God a valid form of prayer? This seems to be a valid reading of Psalm 142. Bernhard W. Anderson classifies Psalm 142 as one of the Psalms of "individual lament" (223). This distinguishes it from those psalms which express collective lament, a sense of communal complaint to God on the part of the Jews. But in Psalm 142, the lament is by one man only, David. An exegetical close reading of Psalm 142 will demonstrate that David's lament here indicates that prayer need not be a form of unqualified praise of God only: complaint to God, or complaint against God, is in itself a valid form of worship. The paradox of prayer is that it may contain doubt.

We must begin with the descriptive heading for Psalm 142: "A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer." The specific Hebrew...
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