If we hate sin committed against us enough to pray curses on someone else, then we also should hate our own sin enough to pray the same for ourselves as God sanctifies us through discipline (Heb 12:5–11). 3 However, this hatred is not a hatred for another person, but a hatred of sin. Jonathan Edwards discusses “hatred” as a religious affection stirred by God’s Spirit not all hatred is sin. When we conclude that praying for God to curse our enemies is the best course of action, we should also remember that our sin is equally as heinous as the one(s) we are praying against. Secondly, praying imprecations can be a reminder to us of the heinousness of sin, including our own. Are you really leaving vengeance in God’s hands? Or do you vindictively desire harm against your enemies? Acknowledge sin So examining our motivation for praying these psalms is a good first step in deciding whether you should ever pray these harsh words. When we cry out to God in those moments, of course, we must leave vengeance in God’s hands rather than thinking our prayer can coerce God to do harm to another image-bearer (Deut 32:35a Rom 12:19). It is at these times that the imprecations in the Psalms may mean the most to God’s beleaguered people. That being said, some of us will experience severe injustice at some point, perhaps too difficult to imagine. Do our experiences really rise above “frustrating nuisance” to the level of “legitimate injustice,” as theirs did? God is not our cosmic genie to wipe out our enemies, and we should not be surprised when he answers any vindictive imprecations with a resounding, “No.” The psalmists were writing in desperate situations. Instead, like the psalmists, our cry to God is an expression of our hope and trust in him to ease our suffering. How can Christians rightly pray for enemies ? Desire no harmįirst, our primary desire cannot be the harm of another image-bearer. He is not promising to take revenge he is leaving vengeance in the just hands of God. In many of these imprecations, the psalmist asks the Lord to do to his enemies what they have done to him (for example, Ps 137:8–9), and, importantly, he entrusts that outcome to the Lord’s will, not his personal vindication. Without retribution or punishment, there is no justice. Instead, they are expressions of deep trust in the Lord to execute justice in ways that are fitting to the retribution principle, a concept that was entirely fitting to the biblical world-and ought to be in ours. When we understand these psalms in their original contexts, we find that these prayers are not comprehensive vindictive attacks from the psalmists they are not the equivalent of nasty comments on social media. Rather, the imprecations are found in psalms that convey a cry for reprieve from deep distress, sometimes distress inflicted even from close friends (Ps 55:12–14). There are no psalms in the Psalter that are entirely filled with imprecations. that every person of God may be equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16–17).Ĭertain psalms are sometimes called “imprecatory psalms,” but this isn’t quite right. We cannot disregard these portions of God’s Word or pass them off as irrelevant to Christianity because of their perceived ancient barbarism. The first thing we must remember is that the imprecatory prayers of the Psalms are inspired Scripture and therefore profitable in the Christian life. Howell considers these sticky questions-and how we can rightly apply the imprecations from the Psalter to pray for enemies in our own lives. In this excerpt, adapted from May/June 2021 Bible Study Magazine, Adam J. Let their name be blotted out in the next generation” (Ps 109:12–13).Īre Jesus and David contradicting one another? 1 Should we pray “imprecations” (prayers for God to bring retributive justice to wicked enemies) like these? 2 But David says-of an enemy-“Let there be none who extend to him loyal love, nor any who pities his orphans. Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). Facebook Reddit Pinterest Email LinkedIn WhatsAppĬhristians pray for their enemies -but should they also pray against them? Consider two verses.
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