What
I want to share with you today is kinda the other side of the coin from what I
shared yesterday.
I’ve
been doing short videos, encouraging you to pray thru Psalm 140 daily to stand
for righteousness & against the lawlessness that is spreading like a
cancer. One part of Psalm 140 are examples of what is called an “imprecatory
prayer.” Here is it:
As
for the head of those who surround me, may the mischief of their
lips cover them. May burning coals fall upon them; may they
be cast into the fire, into deep pits from which they cannot
rise. May a slanderer not be established in the earth; may evil hunt the violent man speedily”
(verses 9-11).
What
is imprecatory prayer? One definition of imprecation is the “The act of...
invoking evil; a malediction; a prayer or expressed wish that a curse or
calamity may befall someone” (Wordnik).
It
goes without saying that Christians have had a real problem with this concept
of prayer for a lot of reasons. But I want to bring this subject up in the
context of what is happening in our nation right now.
Please
take a minute to watch this video. You may want to turn your volume down, as it
has some extremely disgusting language in it. (If you listen to the first 5
seconds, there isn’t really any need to listen to the audio of the rest. It’s
all pretty much the same.)https://twitter.com/i/status/1282070412466282496
What
were your emotional response & thoughts about what you saw (& heard, if
you kept the volume up)? To be honest, I felt & thought a lot of things.
But the one thing I want to share with you is that I was angry. Not just on
behalf of the officer that was disrespected, attacked, & injured.
I was
angry because if enough of this happens, the police will be de-motivated from
protecting the people in this neighborhood. They need someone between them
& the thugs the officers were trying to deal with.
Where is the justice for
the elderly, children, & disabled in the neighborhood who can’t stand up to the criminals? Who
is going to protect the small business owners & their employees?
How
do you feel when you see this happening? Everything is turned upside down &
backward. Evil is considered good, & good evil. Here is an observation from
another blog about imprecatory prayer:
While some would object that it is not patience at all to pray to
God for the destruction of their enemies, that idea is simply wrong. If
destruction is truly warranted and is the will of God, to pray for it is
neither impatient nor wrong. Taking individual vengeance is both wrong and
impatient. Rom. 12:19 "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave
room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL
REPAY," says the Lord." Not taking one's own vengeance, but waiting
on God to use His tools (natural means, governments, other evil men's
predilection for evil, etc.) to bring His vengeance is exactly what patience is.
Also, anyone who would plead for God to relieve him from the evil of his enemies must truly make sure that his enemy can not rightly ask for the same relief because of the pleader's action. The righteous imprecatory prayer is a tool for the innocent only.
Also, anyone who would plead for God to relieve him from the evil of his enemies must truly make sure that his enemy can not rightly ask for the same relief because of the pleader's action. The righteous imprecatory prayer is a tool for the innocent only.
You
can read the entire blog at: https://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-psalm-35.htm
There
is nothing wrong with praying that God will deal with those who stand between
justice & the hurting or afflicted. David did it. We can do it, & this
is a season when we need to.
