But what do we with all of those imprecatory Psalms? You know, the ones where the Psalmist asks God to come down and stomp out the Psalmist's enemies by making their lives hell on earth. I am thinking here of Psalm 109.
6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. 8 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. 9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. 10 May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. 11 May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. 12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. 13 May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. 14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out. 15 May their sins always remain before the LORD, that he may blot out their name from the earth.
Pretty harsh stuff from the Bible. You wonder if Jesus had ever read this Psalm when he was giving the Sermon on the Mount. But of course he did. Jesus acknowledges in Matt 5:43-46 that the prevailing wisdom of the day was to love your neighbor but hate your enemy. Jesus calls us instead to love our enemies. So while Psalm 109 may provide us some insights to the way the ancients felt and even expressed themselves to God, it is not necessarily a prayer we should pray. Psalm 109 can help us realize that not everyone in the Bible had feelings of love for everyone, but asking God to kill the children of your enemy does not reflect the cruciform way that we should be viewing all of life.
Which leads me to a recent news article. According to USA Today, there are people who are "praying" Psalm 109 against their enemies. A former Navy Chaplin was sued by an atheist organization who discovered that the former Chaplin was saying the prayer hoping that God would bring harm to the atheist and his organization. The judge in the case, however, ruled that it is ok to recite an imprecatory Psalm, as long as no one actually gets hurt.
I can't comment on the judge's ruling, but I do wonder about people who are asking God to curse their enemies rather than bless them or, if this Chaplin really believes what he preaches, that God would change this man's heart. The article doesn't say, but I wonder how the Chaplin reconciles this with the words of Jesus?
Another example of this type of behavior was also exhibited by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Kansas. Apparently he was emailing Psalm 109 to his colleagues and commenting that "At last — I can honestly voice a biblical prayer for our president!" Whether or not he agrees with the president's politics, I don't think this exhibits the kind of charity that we are supposed to show to others. Does he really wish that Mrs. Obama would be widowed and her daughters fatherless? Again, is this what it means to exhibit love to others, even those we consider to be our enemies?
I admit, Imprecatory Psalms are a tricky thing for us. They are Psalms that call down curses upon an enemy, full stop. But that does not mean that we have to or should use them that way. There is a lot of stuff in the Bible that we don't or shouldn't apply (Anyone for stoning rebellious children?). These Psalms remind us that the presence of evil in the world is very real and that it causes untold suffering on many. And they remind us that God is not pleased with such wickedness. But the words of Jesus are the other side of the coin for Christians. We recognize the evil that is in the world and may even experience it. But we also know that we are called to do something even harder than asking God for revenge. We are to love our enemies, and pray for them. Somehow I am not convinced that is what these other gentlemen are doing.
Gee, I was a rebellious child who got stoned...often.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that God has revealed the divine heart in all of this conflict with enemies stuff. I wrote last week, "The Scripture also speaks about rain falling on the just and the unjust. Luke 6:35 even takes it a step further. 'But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.'" God is good!
As Christians we need need to learn the art of treating those with whom we disagree with charity. Far too often the blame for the worlds troubles is placed on those that are different than us. This move is a sad attempt to push off blame and to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. In either case this scapegoating prohibits self-reflection. As Jesus points out, we need to "take the speck out of our own eye." The problem is not the other, but our projection of the problem on the other. When we can get off of our moral high-horse,and realize that we are not all that much different than the other, perhaps we can begin to pray for both our enemies and ourselves for the beautiful mess that we find ourselves in.
ReplyDeleteMike and Bryan,
ReplyDeleteGreat job to both of you.
Couldn't have said better.
This is not an earnest discussion of the issue and seems to avoid the real problem(s)-- namely how to, and how not to, read ancient literature. The Bible has been pulled out of its own historical and literary context and conceptualized as a text written for our sake, to quote Paul. But this is no being true to these once separate biblical texts, nor the many and divergent authors that wrote them. I sincere and transparent discussion needs to unfold here. I am starting a blog for this purpose: everythingbiblical (.) com
ReplyDeleteI'd much rather curse them than ask god to bless them because how will they learn not to be evil. I have people lying about me calling a prostitute on facebook and showing up at my house at 4 am sitting my porch and asking my roommates about the black whore.. Because of liars I love Jesus but I trustGod so I will pray the psalms until I see my desire upon my enemies andi see them drink the cup of sorrow they have said to me drink. God is just and He will plead my cause for me.. And I don't have to have liars bully me to the point of hopelessness their evil will be upon their own heads. I am not a gay child who hangs herself God is my help and I will ask for vengeance.
ReplyDeletepsalms is from old testament,to change it Jesus brought us new testament.
ReplyDeletebut people are still following old testament..Guys
we have to follow Jesus,not Moses who wrote old testament.
After my husband died, I learned of his three-year infidelity with a close friend of mine. For the past two years since his death, I've seethed with loathing for my former friend (and my late husband). I cursed her and her family. In the last three weeks I've found myself able to forgive her and my late husband. It was sudden and unexpected because nothing in my life had changed except something in my heart - maybe it is because forgiveness sometimes takes time. Now I pray for God to bless her health, happiness and prosperity. God took away my bitterness and replaced it with peace. Asking God to curse someone made me miserable. Makes you wonder if God was throwing my curse back at me and teaching me a fortunate lesson.
ReplyDeletewow! This is really inspiration...thank you.
DeleteI can't remeber what verse it is in the new testament, but I know everyone will know which one I am talking about. It says something to the effect that being kind to your enemy is like heeping hot coals on their heads. I know this to be true. There is a relative of mine who is mean, hateful, and glad when others have terrible things happen to them. It really makes him mad to be kind, honest, and behave as a Christian. He despises Christians and he will tell you so. The more good you do the more he doesn't know what to do with himself and he ends up making a spectacle of himself in front of everyone and then he is embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteJesus said i tell you the truth love your enemies and pray for those who despicefully use you. Mathew5:45. This is when we become the children of the Heavenly Father who send his rain both to the Just and the unjust. Please Child of God, remember this are the words coming from Jesus our Lord, who is greater than all prophets, Bible do to others what you wish them do to you for this is the Fulfilment of the law and the prophets. There the who scripture is fufllled in JESUS, we should not ignore the words of Jesus on this matter. Even the prophets knows Jesus Christ is Greater than them
ReplyDeleteI read this article hoping to find something different that might justify praying Biblical passages, such as the imprecatory psalms. I have a wife who recently, flagrantly cheated on me, over and over. I found myself in a situation similar to Hosea. I prayed verses from Hosea to adversely affect her activities, but with the goal of God causing her to turn from her ways. Eventually, God showed me he had removed me from evil. Her entire family practices witchcraft. Even after seven years of knowing her before we married, she turned out to be someone different than represented. She now is in bondage to her ways. I pray for her salvation. At this stage she is trying to take everything I have after only a one year marriage. She and her lawyer lie in Court and the Judge buys it all. There seems to be no justice. But the bottom line is this article is a good analysis of the topic. Believers are not to curse anyone, period. God owns the right to any vengeance. To take any vengeance ourselves is to steal from God. He knows and watches everything. He provides perfect justice. Let us also not make Job's mistake. He was a great man but slipped into pride and self-justification during his afflictions. Self-justification slanders God. We are to continually thank Him for what we have been given, including discipline. We are to worship Him for His works, bless our enemies, do good to them, give them more than what they want to take from us, and lend without expecting anything in return. We are promised rewards for this, and some may be given to us while we are pilgrims on this earth. And finally, we are to keep our mouths shut about it all, a lesson he has been teaching me. We are not to complain. To complain is to slander God. God is good. All things work for good to those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose. Bitterness only hurts us. Jesus kept His mouth essentially closed during His affliction. Isaiah 53:7 God Bless.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you because He had to have lead you to post this!! Our story is so similar that I do not even know how to express how encouraging it is to hear you and to know that the forgiveness and love that I pray for my ex and his family is the right thing to do. The hurt and affliction is so hurtful at times but I continue to repent for when I feel that hurt. The Holy Spirit lead me to Job too!! God had given me Hosea when I was in my last marriage to show me what I was experiencing. My daughter recently confessed that he has touched her inappropriately. The fact that you are suffering righteously is such an encouragement to me. Jesus is the perfect example and GOD BLESS YOU for your truth and testimony!!
Deletethe replies are just as encouraging as the article... I was terminated employment for no reason by my boss who is a minister. She used me, openly ridiculed me, and acted on every lie or rumor spoken about me,knowing they were not true. When i would call her 2 plead my case she would hang up. Bieng that the job was my fsmilies sole source of income we were devastated. How could a Minister who calls herself a leader of sheep be so 2faced...Anywho..I will not let her actions deter me from my belief in Jesus Christ. Clearly this woman is not a woman of God...regardless.. my duty as a Christian is to focus on myself and my life and continuing to walk in the light of God.
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