Psalms 86, 102, 109, 139-141, 143
You may have noticed a common theme in many of the psalms today and lately: the call for God’s judgment and vengeance upon the wicked, often quite graphically. Are you uncomfortable when the Psalms say such things? Do you think that such sentiments are somehow “unchristian”? Do you even feel guilty reading/praying these psalms? Do you think, then, that the psalmist is wrong, and that if Jesus were given an editor’s pen that He would thoroughly rewrite these psalms, striking out all those “nasty” verses?
Think again.
Jesus himself declares that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35), so the Editor’s pen is not an option. Yes, Jesus tells us to love our enemies (Mt. 5:44), and yes, Peter says that the Lord does not [wish] that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (II Peter 3:9) And so, yes, we should pray likewise, that the wicked would repent and find salvation in Jesus. But it should be abundantly clear that most of the wicked cling to their sin and never repent. Given that the wicked remain wicked, what then should our (and the psalmist’s) prayer be? It should be exactly what the psalmist does, in fact, pray. So stop being hesitant about asking the LORD to set things right. Stop feeling guilty about praying for justice. The LORD knows how to execute that justice properly.
See also:
- August 8 (2022) / Psalm 86
- August 28 (2022) / Psalm 102:1-17
- August 29 (2022) / Psalm 102:18-23
- October 5 (2022) / Psalm 109:1-20
- October 6 (2022) / Psalm 109:21-31
- December 17 (2022) / Psalm 139:1-12
- December 18 (2022) / Psalm 139:13-24
- December 19 (2022) / Psalm 140
- December 20 (2022) / Psalm 141
- December 22 (2022) / Psalm 143