Lord, how long will I cry, and You will not hear? I cry out to You “Violence!” and will You not save?
Short answer
Scripture records many faithful people bringing anger and complaint directly to God — Job, Jeremiah, Habakkuk and the psalmists — and treats that honesty as prayer. What it warns against is turning away from God, not speaking honestly to Him.
Faithful people who complained
The Bible includes complaints that would startle many modern churchgoers — and it includes them as Scripture.
Lord, how long will I cry, and You will not hear? I cry out to You “Violence!” and will You not save?
The prophet opens his book by accusing God of not listening.
Lord, You have persuaded me, and I was persuaded.
You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day.
Everyone mocks me.
Jeremiah accuses God of overpowering him; the Hebrew verb rendered “persuaded” can also mean “enticed.”
“Therefore I will not keep silent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Job refuses to keep silent about his bitterness.
The Psalms of lament ask “How long?” and “Why have You forsaken Me?” — the second on Jesus’ own lips at the cross (Matthew 27:46, quoting Psalm 22:1).
What God says about it
At the end of the book of Job, God rebukes Job’s friends — who had defended God with neat explanations — and says Job spoke rightly.
It was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job has.
That does not mean every accusation Job made was correct; God also challenges Job’s limited understanding (Job 38–41). But the honest sufferer is commended over the confident explainers.
What Scripture does warn against
The Bible warns about anger that festers into bitterness or harms others (Ephesians 4:26, 31), and about hardening the heart against God (Hebrews 3:15). The difference in the laments is direction: the anger is spoken to God. It keeps the relationship open.
How to pray it
The Psalms offer words when your own fail. Psalm 13 moves from “How long?” to “But I trust” in six verses — without pretending the trouble is over. See the guide Trusting God in difficult times.
If your anger comes from grief or trauma, a pastor, spiritual director or counselor can walk with you. Bringing it into the open is not a failure of faith.