The pastor begins to pray. At one point, you hear him say, “When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer be counted as sin. Let his days be few; let another person take over his position. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.” Wait. Did you hear that right? You listen more closely, and yeah, the pastor is praying for God to judge someone. What is going on?
Such prayers are called imprecatory prayers, and most of us would be shocked to hear someone pray such things in our church. Yet the Bible houses numerous such prayers, mostly in the Psalms (Psalms 5; 12; 17; 28; 35; 40; 55; 59; 69; 70; 71; 79; 94; 129; 137; 139; 140). In fact, the quote above is from Psalm 109:7-9. What are we to do with these vindictive voices? Can we appropriate them for ourselves, or should such prayers be counted as sin?
Imprecatory Prayers are God-Breathed
Imprecatory prayers are part of the Bible that the Holy Spirit inspired (2 Peter 1:20-21). In the New Testament, both Jesus and his apostles quote from imprecatory psalms as God-inspired Scripture, and they don’t blush or apologize for doing so (e.g., John 15:25; 19:28; Acts 1:20; Romans 11:9-10). Imprecations are found in the Old Testament (see above), the New Testament (Acts 8:20; Galatians 1:8-9; 1 Corinthians 16:22), and even on the sinless lips of saints in heaven (Revelation 6:9-11; 19:1-4).
Because imprecatory psalms are God-breathed, we can profit from them (2 Timothy 3:16-17). This also means they are not sinful in themselves (though we could certainly use them sinfully). Imprecatory prayers are not a bit of human error tainting divine inspiration. They are part of God’s Word to us.
Imprecatory Prayers Reflect God’s Character
God is holy and righteous. He detests sin and will punish it (Psalm 5:4-6). He also grieves over it (Genesis 6:6; Ephesians 4:30). As God’s people, created and recreated in his image, we are responsible to be like him, which includes hating and grieving over sin (Ephesians 4:20-24). One of the ways we can express such Christlike emotions is by praying for him to judge sin and sinners (Psalm 5:10).
The imprecatory psalms aren’t angry rants. They’re a subcategory of lament psalms, which model how to bring our sorrow and pain to God. These cries of sorrow often rise from the lips of the oppressed and persecuted, and when those laments include prayers for God to punish sinners, they are imprecations that mingle both grief and anger over sin.
When we experience the raw evil of our world, it is healthy and right to sorrow and be angry over it. If we delight in sin or are neutral toward it, our emotions are discordant with God’s. However, in our fallen humanity, it’s easy to let such emotions control us, so we need a guide for how to rightly express them. God has given us that in the imprecatory psalms.
Imprecatory Prayers Don’t Contradict Love
Probably the biggest objection to imprecatory prayers is that they seem to contradict Jesus’ command to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). However, such commands weren’t new with Jesus. God gave them in the Old Testament too (Exodus 23:4-5; Leviticus 19:17-18; Proverbs 25:21-22). And as we’ve already seen, God hates sin and judges sinners, yet he is perfect love (1 John 4:8). Desiring for sin to be punished does not contradict love. And if we pray imprecatory prayers, they must be prayed in love, for anything without love is worthless (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). How can we harmonize this?
First, loving our enemies stores up more judgment for them (Romans 12:19-21). When we leave revenge in God’s hands, we are free to act lovingly towards our enemies while still desiring justice, because we know that God will perfectly execute justice. These two strands intertwine even in the imprecatory psalms (Psalm 35:12-14; 109:4-5).
Second, love desires to protect those harmed by sin. If a wicked person is hurting others, love desires for the sin to stop so that people are safe, such as desiring a child abuser to be jailed so that children are safe. We can lovingly pray imprecatory prayers for the protection of others (Psalm 55:8-10; 109:16).
Third, we must factor in repentance. Thankfully, God does not immediately judge every sin that happens. He is patient and gives opportunity for repentance, but he will judge the unrepentant (Romans 2:4-6; 2 Peter 3:9). Our imprecatory prayers should share this attitude. The imprecatory psalms themselves indicate the enemies being prayed against had demonstrated an unrepentant heart (Ps. 35:12-14; 55:19; 109:4-5). Sometimes, though, God will answer our prayers by using punishment to bring the wicked to repentance. So if we pray an imprecatory prayer against someone, they must evidence an unrepentant heart, and if God chooses to end their wickedness through repentance instead of final judgment, we must be ready to rejoice over a repentant sinner (Luke 15).
Imprecatory Prayers Leave Vengeance to God
The psalmists didn’t pray for judgment, rise off their knees, and hunt down their enemies. They didn’t even directly curse their enemies. They were praying for God to curse and harm their enemies.
God had already promised in Deuteronomy 32:35-36, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly. The Lord will indeed vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees that their strength is gone and no one is left—slave or free.” This is along with the many curses God had promised to pour out on the wicked as part of his covenant with Israel (Deuteronomy 27-28). The psalmists had faith that God would fulfill such promises, and they expressed that faith by praying for God to judge the wicked.
Imprecatory prayers are one way we can live out Paul’s application of Deuteronomy 32:35, “Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath” (Romans 12:19). When we pray for God to punish evil, we are resigning our case into God’s hands, trusting him to bring perfect justice in his way and in his time. As such, imprecatory prayers foreshadow the final judgment (e.g., compare Psalm 28:4 and Revelation 22:12). Indeed, this kind of faith, expressed in prayers for justice, is what the Son of Man will look for at his return (Luke 18:1-8).
This study will continue in Part 2.
Pursuing Truth, Cultivating Virtue, Creating Beauty 