City Life Starter

The Word: Psalm 143:11 – 12

11For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me.

In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.

12And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies

And destroy all those who afflict my soul,

For I am Your servant.

I know this Psalm is primarily about David bringing his sorrow and suffering to the Lord, but every time I read it I come back to the last two verses. The last two verses are as an imprecatory prayer. David’s imprecatory Psalms are both famous and controversial. See e.g. Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 140. To imprecate is to pray or invoke curses or other negative consequences on God’s enemies, which in David’s case were often his enemies as well.

Imprecatory prayers are a source of controversy. Some ask, “Shouldn’t Christians always pray for blessings on others and just accept persecution rather than push back even in prayer?” How one answers those questions is largely dependent on one’s view of the kingdom of God.

If one believes all that matters to the Lord in heaven and the afterlife then the point of imprecatory prayers is easy to miss. Conversely, if one believes the Lord is intimately interested in the earth and the redemption of the planet according to His will, imprecatory prayers will not only be seen as proper but indispensable.

The Lord owns the earth. See Psalm 24:1 (“The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains . . . .).  God the Father sacrificed His only Son to regain possession of the earth. See John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. . . .”). God has engaged us in the process of reconciling not just people but all of His creation to Him. See 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. Being socially responsible starts with the presupposition that the earth rightfully belongs to King Jesus and that He has delegated to His followers the duty of ensuring the planet is managed well, justice is done, and the weak are protected from those who would take advantage of them.

Application

Last week our firm tried a case against the largest publicly traded topless bar franchise in the country. We represented a former manager who had complained about and opposed the rehiring of an employee whom a dancer had accused of sexually assaulting her at the club. I asked Pastor Chris to pray with me the Sunday before the trial. As he was praying, I felt the urging of the Lord to pray the Lord would send confusion into the camp of the topless bar and their attorneys as the preparation for and tried the case. Almost immediately, as if he was reading my mind, Chris prayed the Lord would send confusion into the camp of the club at the trial. In reality, it was a confirmation we were both feeling the same leading to pray that imprecatory prayer.

It is not difficult to conclude the Lord would want a topless bar, which makes it money through the objectification of women and degeneration of men, to lose the case and have to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars in a judgment. At the minimum it increases the club’s cost of doing business and who knows, if the judgment is large enough, maybe the club would have to close and there would be one less topless club in Houston. It was a good time for an imprecatory prayer.

One should always ensure the leading of the Holy Spirit to pray an imprecatory prayer. Imprecatory prayers are an exception to the rule about how Christians are generally to pray about and for others. There is more to say about imprecatory prayers, but hopefully, this is a helpful start.