Imprecatory Prayers
Psalm 79
Greeting folks,
I’m spending the week off at Seminary for the beginning of the semester. It will be great being surrounded by others answering God’s call in all the various ways.
Peace!
I love the prayers in the bible. Of course, the Lord’s Prayer is important, but many other prayers compete for the top spot. Mary's Prayer is amazing and inspirational. It goes by the name ‘the Magnificat’ and has been turned into hymns and carols. Hannah lays down a prayer that all others will be judged against after the Lord fills her womb with the Prophet Samuel.
Other than all being connected to birth, these prayers all have something else in common. They all have lines in them that cause us to stumble a bit when we read them. The Magnificat contains:
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
Hannah’s prayer includes:
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
6 The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low, he also exalts.
What troubles us when we pray like Mary or Hannah?
Well, you may hear Christ’s words from Matthew 5. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven;”
How can we ask God to punish the wicked... the very ones that Christ tells us to pray for? Rightfully so, it makes us uncomfortable.
The problem extends past these prayers. For example, Psalm 79 belongs to a category called Imprecatory Psalms. In these Psalms, we pray for God to bring His curses down on others... specifically His enemies. We ask that God hold up his end of the bargain and that he will serve Justice and Judgment to those against Him and His people. Some of these psalms contain disturbing imagery, things that no human should wish would happen to another human... much less pray that God will do! (I’m looking at you, Psalm 137!)
How do we, as Christians, handle these psalms and prayers like Hannah’s and Mary’s? Should we pray them? A lot of them have been cut from the Liturgy. Should they be in the Bible anymore? Indeed, they don’t make the selection in my pocket ELW. How do we handle these verses in light of Christ commanding us to pray FOR our enemies?
Before we tackle these questions, let’s dig deeper into Psalm 79.
The opening of this psalm is a report of disaster. Unbelievers are in God’s land and in his temple. The people have been slaughtered and their bodies left for the wild animals, and indeed Jerusalem itself it torn down. Seemingly, Evil has won.
In verse 5, we get the agonizing cry, “How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?” The psalmist prays that God’s wrath turns away from his people and onto his enemies. This is the imprecatory portion of this psalm. In particular, verse 10 stands out, “Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations and before our eyes.” In other words, “Let us see your avenging wrath, O Lord. Let us see them get what they deserve!”
Blurred Lines
The psalmist jumps back and forth back and forth from praying for justice and God’s saving grace. From condemning those responsible for the destruction to praying for deliverance. The switch between the two is dizzying, it happens so fast. Back and forth. It almost blurs the line between the people of God and the enemies of God.
While it is true... we feel uncomfortable praying for God to defeat his enemies because Christ tells us to love them, there is another reason for our discomfort. Throughout history, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob repeatedly make themselves enemies of God. They are God’s chosen people AND God’s enemies at the same time. There is no difference between those who need God’s deliverance and those who are God’s enemies.
The destruction of Jerusalem... the background of this psalm happens because the Jews have rebelled against God for so long that they are not hearing God’s call to repentance. They are ignoring God’s Law. They have ignored the prophets sent. They aren’t doing right for themselves, for their families, and for their neighbors.
The psalms, including this one, are ageless. Yes, they were created in a specific time and place under a specific set of circumstances... but they speak to us in our time and circumstances too. Just as Israel was both God’s chosen people AND God’s enemies.
We may not be facing thousands of soldiers bent on destroying our city, but we do face our own doubts and disbelief threatening to destroy our trust in a gracious and merciful God.
We may not be faced with unburied bodies in the streets, but we are faced with the sins that we commit against God and one another. Both of these only grow stinkier when we ignore that they are there.
We are faced with enemies of God, there are unbelievers within the walls of each and every congregation. They aren’t some savage outsider, they are us.
So, what can we do in the face of sin and doubt? What can you do with the understanding that you are the problem... and not the solution?
Praying against yourself
You pray against yourself. You pray imprecatory psalms, realizing that you are praying that God will deal with the parts of you that are still His enemy. You pray the Magnificat... realizing that you are the proud one that needs to be brought low. You confess the Apostles Creed... recognizing that if God is Almighty that leaves very little might left for yourself. You pray the Lord’s Prayer, asking that God’s Kingdom come and that your kingdom never does. That his will is done, and not yours. Praying this way reminds you that God is God and you are not.
That leaves us in the scary position of being at God’s mercy and being unable to do anything about it. We face the reality that we do not measure up to God’s expectations, and can only assume that God is angry at us. No wonder the psalmist cries, “How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?”
So everything is in the Lord’s hands... and so what does He do? How does he respond to our fear? How does he respond to us being afraid of Him?
God makes us promises... promises in our baptism... that we belong to Him. Promises in the confession and absolution, that no matter what we have done, God forgives us for Christ’s sake. Promises in The Lord’s Supper, given to those who will betray him minutes later, that nothing we do will separate us from his love.
Yes, God is wrathful... we cannot forget that. Yet, in his wrath, he remembers mercy. God’s anger has a purpose... and that is to set the world right. God’s anger is used to redeem this world and us along with it. God’s rectifying anger, as much as his love, sent Christ among us. So that at the end of our days, when we go to God’s eternal rest for us, we will hear the answer to the psalmist’s cry, “How long, o Lord! Will you be angry forever?” We will hear “My child, my anger isn’t forever, but my love is.”