TRANSCRIPT:
24 Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,”
will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,
25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,
and a good blessing will come upon them.
Proverbs 24:24-25
Of the several categories of the Psalms, lament and imprecatory are the two that really suffer from a lack of teaching in the modern American church, to the point of being completely ignored in many settings. Even so, the difficulty our modern sensibilities face with the lament Psalms is nothing compared to that of the imprecatory Psalms. Why? Simply read the definition: an imprecation, according to Merriam-Webster, is a curse; or the act of invoking evil upon another. Psalm 10, verses 12 through 15 are an example of imprecatory prayer in the Psalms:
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.
Recently, in the December 27, 2020 Sunday School lesson from Bible Studies for Life, a publication of the Southern Baptist Convention entity Lifeway, the commentary in the leader guide said the imprecatory psalms are, QUOTE “pre-Christian,” and, QUOTE “don’t fully reflect the ethic taught by Jesus” ENDQUOTE. Did what is ethical or moral change with Jesus Christ establishing the New Covenant? No, but imprecatory prayer does warrant an awareness and certain posture of our hearts before God.
Bob Rodgers, pastor of Evangel World Prayer Center in Louisville, Kentucky, caused quite a stir on Sunday, January 10th when he prayed curses down upon those to whom he attributed election theft and cheating. QUOTE “Father those that have lied, those that have stolen this election, those that have cheated I place the curse of God upon them. … I curse you with poverty, I curse you with the worst year you’ve ever had in the name of the lord” ENDQUOTE. Several pastors local to Rodgers have publicly rebuked him, with one describing his prayer as QUOTE “hate and evil in the name of God …” ENDQUOTE.
Rodgers appeared to alter his stance somewhat after the backlash, removing the video of the curses from social media and telling a WHAS reporter, QUOTE “This is a prayer not to curse people but to curse the demonic forces that people have allowed to rule them. … I do pray that trouble will come to them if they don’t repent and that they will turn from their wicked ways” ENDQUOTE.
So who’s right? Is it necessarily “hate and evil in the name of God” to “place the curse of God” on others? We know King David prayed imprecatory prayers. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote imprecatory psalms. But we must remember the immortal–yet re-contextualized here–words of Matt Chandler: QUOTE “You’re not David!” ENDQUOTE
We don’t know with 100% certainty who is God’s enemy; we don’t know who is elect. We do know we are to love our neighbor and that God loves justice. Psalm 33, verses four and five say:
“For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.”
We will not err in seeking a balance of love for our neighbor and love for God’s law. We will not err in seeking a balance of mercy and justice. In exercising wisdom, we see there is a place for praying imprecatory prayers with love as the main reason to do so. Dr. William VanDoodewaard says when he prayed with his family concerning a dictator, they prayed, QUOTE “Oh Lord, please convert this man; but if he’s not going to repent, please remove him” ENDQUOTE. Take care to remember Ephesians 6:12 when you pray: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
With a careful reading of the New Testament, we see examples of properly prayed imprecations. Dr. Robert Godfrey said, QUOTE “it is not illegitimate to use the imprecations of the psalter to pray for judgment on God’s enemies. Every time we pray, ‘Come quickly Lord Jesus,’ we’re praying an imprecation on God’s enemies. When Jesus comes again, there will be judgment for God’s enemies” ENDQUOTE. And Dr. Albert Mohler contends that our Lord Jesus Christ himself prayed an imprecation in a sense, and taught us to do so at that, in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Dr. Mohler indicated that in the Lord’s Prayer is the reality that QUOTE “[t]here is a judgment coming” PAUSE.
14 Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Psalm 34:14-16
Ryan Cornett 