KCC is preaching in the Psalms this summer. The Psalms are the tools for relating to God with honest prayer, engaging the full breadth of human emotions. In the joys, sorrows, and angry moments of life, the Psalms teach us to bring all that’s within us to God to find refuge in Him as our strength and protection.
Eugene Peterson, in his book Answering God, writes,
“It is easy to be honest before God with our hallelujahs; it is somewhat more difficult to be honest in our hurts; it is nearly impossible to be honest before God in the dark emotions of our hate. So we commonly suppress our negative emotions (unless, neurotically, we advertise them). Or, when we do express them, we do it far from the presence, or what we think is the presence, of God, ashamed and embarrassed to be seen in these curse-stained bib overalls. But when we pray the psalms, these classic prayers of God’s people, we find that will not do. We must pray who we actually are, not who we think we should be. In prayer, all is not sweetness and light. The way of prayer is not to cover our unlovely emotions so that they will appear respectable, but expose them so that they can be enlisted in the work of the kingdom.” (Eugene Peterson, Answering God, 100)
Whether or not we want to admit it, we all have dark emotions from time to time. Anger, rage, even hate. What do we do with those emotions? We pour them out to God in prayer.
King David is a great example of this in the Psalms. He often prays “imprecatory prayers,” which are prayers that call down God’s judgment on evildoers and liars.
- Psalm 5:10 – “Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels…”
- Psalm 59:13 – “Consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more…”
- Psalm 69:25, 27 – “May their camp be a desolation… Add guilt to their guilty deeds…”
- Psalm 140:10 – “Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, never to rise again!”
And perhaps the most shocking line in all of the Psalms…
- Psalm 109:7–9 – “When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin! May his days be few; may another take his office! May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow!”
How do we understand these verses? Should we pray like this?
My father-in-law, Dr. Mark Eckel, has written twelve principles on the imprecatory Psalms that are worth your time to read.
Imprecatory Principles in Scripture
Key to understanding violence and justice in Scripture are the imprecatory Psalms. The songs of Psalms 109 or 137, for example, include prayers for the punishment of God’s enemies. Calling down judgment on adversaries is both a very human and very troubling response to evil this side of heaven. Bearing the image of God—His character including justice—we desire justice. Invoking curses on others seems to be a difficult proposition in an age of tolerance and for Christians who are called to love their neighbor. Since Scripture calls for justice in this life, I offer my “dirty dozen” responses to believers’ cries for justice now.
- As poetry, the Psalms express emotion in poetic fashion. Personification, hyperbole, etc., are normal but hyperbolic responses to actual desires is normal in ancient Near Eastern expression.
- As reality, the Psalms are expressions of humans in crisis, responding to injustice, cruelty, oppression, slander, betrayal, conspiracy, personal distress, etc.
- As anticipation, if there is no justice after life, there can be no justice in this life. Short-term versus long-term response to injustice.
- As severity, the Psalms express feelings beyond what many Westerners would consider “normal” in the 21st century.
- As misery, the Psalms are expressions of serious rage, anger, grief, and fury against evildoers.
- As parity, the Psalms are expressions of fairness, impartiality, and even-handedness based on God’s righteousness.
- As right, indignation is a proper, personal response to injustice. The only possible redemption available is the pure, unadulterated innocence of Jesus’ sacrifice.
- As loyalty, the Psalms are expressions of a theocratic commitment to the Suzerain-vassal treaty where the king protects his subjects. Prayers to “break the arms of the wicked” (Ps 10:15) or “smash the teeth” (58:6) or “turn your wrath upon” (69:22-28) would not be an expression of personal revenge but of Eternal retribution promised by the suzerain (Deut 32:35-36).
- As guarantee, the Psalms promise and predict what He will do (1:4 and 35:5; 35:8 and 9:15; 35:26 and 6:10).
- As control, imprecatory Psalms actually restrain the believer from physical violence, leaving the response of injustice to God.
- As finality, the Psalms are expressions of God’s promise that evil and evildoers would be defeated and overthrown. “If the Jews cursed more bitterly than the Pagans this was, I think, at least in part because they took right and wrong more seriously. For if we look at their railings, we find they are usually in agreement not because these things have been done to them but because these things are manifestly wrong, are hateful to God as well as to the victim.” C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (1958): 30.
- As jealousy, the Psalms express God’s zeal for His people and His righteousness.
We are reticent to tell others we like “justice movies” because we live in an age of niceness. But the world is not nice. Evil exists and must be stopped. Yes, it would be nice to think everything can be solved by human love, mercy, kindness, and generosity. Only Jesus can establish peace for humans after His ultimate recompense. We should be honest with ourselves. We like to see the bad guys “get it in the end.” As humans, we respond to evil desiring justice, because we bear the image of The One who is just.
(Taken from “Violence in Film,” Mark Eckel, When the Lights Go Down: Movie Review as Christian Practice)