Confronting Objections To Imprecatory Prayer

Many Christians on first exposure to imprecatory prayer (prayer for judgment on God’s enemies) find themselves very uncomfortable. There are those who had fairly effectively eased their consciences with the explanation that these “embarrassing” imprecatory Scriptures flowed from the harsh God of the Old Testament. Now God had “reinvented” Himself into a loving God of mercy who is quite saddened by the wicked acts of men, but wouldn’t lift a finger in judgment in this “age of grace” (“God hates the sin, but loves the sinner”). When the subject of the validity and contemporary relevance of the imprecatory Psalms comes up, it usually generates a number of objections. Some are the sincere concerns of those who wish to understand the nature and work of God and find these sections of the Bible in conflict with what they had thought to be correct. Others are excuses to ignore the possibility that God not only hates the sin, but the sinner as well. Regardless of the reason, each objection must be taken to the Scriptures where it will either stand or fall.

Lack of Compassion?

Does imprecatory prayer display an uncompassionate attitude towards unbelievers? To some this type of prayer seems mean-spirited and vengeful. How do we reconcile imprecatory prayer with the compassion of God, especially in the New Testament? We need to apply the rule known as Sola Scriptura as we seek the answer to these questions. Sola Scriptura means Scripture alone. We need not discover what we feel is compassionate and what is not, but rather what God says compassion is. We need to allow the Word of God to instruct us and not define our own terms.

For example, there is a popular song used in worship in a number of churches which has Psalm 104 as the basis for its lyrics. Verses 33-35 are, “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord. May sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!” Ironically the first part of verse 35 (“May sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked be no more”) is not used in the song. To most of us that half-verse just doesn’t fit in with the spirit of the rest of the verses, yet God seems to think it does. God’s judgment of the wicked is a part of the Psalmist’s worship and praise. We need to decide that either we know what is more proper than God does, or that our understanding of God’s character concerning judgment is lacking.

Lack of Love?

What about love? Won’t sinners be more likely to come to Jesus if we downplay His justice and emphasize His love? It may seem to us that it would work that way, but it doesn’t. The humble receive God’s grace (because they acknowledge their guilt and their need) and the proud will be resisted (because they refuse to acknowledge their guilt and their need). With this in mind, what does God say concerning “loving” the wicked into His covenant? Isaiah 26:9 gives us the answer. It says, “For when Your judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” This was illustrated for us in Acts 13, where the Apostle Paul spoke to Elymas the sorcerer: “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time” (Acts 73:70,7 7). The result of this was the causing of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Paphos, to believe the Gospel.

Isn’t it possible to win some into the Kingdom by showing them grace? Certainly, but only those whose hearts are humble. But going back to Isaiah 26, verse 10 informs us, “Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” Even if a whole nation is upright, the wicked will not cease from dealing unjustly. Also, if shown grace and left unchecked, they will continue in their wicked way.

From God’s judgment can come repentance. The hope of imprecatory prayer is that men will repent. Step one is that they would humble themselves and see their true condition. Psalm 9:19,20 says, “Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” Psalm 83:16 puts it this way, “Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord.” We pray for the salvation of the world. If there are those who won’t repent, or until they do, we ask God to remove them for the sake of the Kingdom and glory of God; and for the sake of his people and for the good of the world. To do less is to in effect say that it is better that the wicked continue in their wicked ways (murdering children through abortion, legislating evil through public office). It is accepting that God be mocked and scorned, and His Law made void. It is allowing justice to lie dead in the streets, rather than praying that the wicked be dealt with by God.

Taking Judgment into Our Hands?

Aren’t we, by praying imprecatory prayers, taking things into our own hands? Quite the contrary. Psalm 119:126 states: “It is time for You to act, O Lord, for they have regarded Your Law as void.” We are calling for God to act in accordance with His Word, remembering that “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Heb. 10:30). Psalm 94:1,2 says, “O Lord God, to Whom vengeance belongs — O God, to Whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render punishment to the proud.”

Generate Hatred?

Doesn’t imprecatory prayer generate hatred? Let us consider the words of David in Psalm 139:21,22: “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred, I count them my enemies.” Imprecatory prayer should neither generate nor feed hatred in the sense of a personal hatred against someone who has wronged or hurt us. But when we have a zeal for God, we find ourselves burdened with and angry at the same things that God is. Psalm 5:6 tells us that “The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man” (Ps. 5:6), and Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” The hatred that rises up within us, when based upon God’s Law and motivated by a zeal for Him, is “A perfect hatred.”

What about the condition of our heart? David goes on to pray in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23,24). He had a concern that this hatred he felt not be motivated by personal feelings or emotions but rather by his desire and fervor for God.

When we pray imprecatory prayers we must lay our feelings aside and base our prayers on the law-word of God. In 2 Timothy 4:14, Paul prayed an imprecation on Alexander the Coppersmith. We don’t know exactly how this man harmed Paul, though we can be certain that Paul’s prayer was not based upon personal vindictiveness, but upon the harm done to his service in his work for the Lord.

Lead to Arrogance?

Doesn’t imprecatory prayer make us arrogant? What makes us better than the ungodly, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? How can we ask God to judge the unbelievers and not extend to them the mercy he extended to us? We can pray this way because God’s Word says we can; in fact, that we must. Also, it is God, not we ourselves, that has declared us righteous. If we are boasting, it is not in anything we are or have done, but who God is and what He has done. ‘“Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’ For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends” (2 Cor. 10:17). God is the one who has translated us from the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Light (Col. 1:13)- He is also the one who has said that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9). Our standing with God is His doing, not ours. The condemnation of the wicked is His judgment, not ours. Our zeal for Him compels us to count His enemies as our enemies. Our love for His honor compels us to desire to see His Kingdom come.

If imprecatory prayer makes us squeamish, that is good. It is good because it is serious business. We are not to pray this way frivolously. When we call upon God to move in judgment against an individual or a nation, the impact of our prayer is powerful.

How can we be sure we are doing the right thing? How can we know that our heart is pure? We base everything upon the Word of God. We cite the person or organizations violating the Law-Word of God by how they have sinned against Him. That, then, becomes the basis upon which we examine our hearts and upon which we present the case to God.

In Matthew 6:10, Jesus instructed us to pray to the Father, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If our hearts are evil, and our desire is to see our enemies destroyed and not primarily to see God’s name exalted and His kingdom advanced, then we are in error and do not understand the heart of imprecatory prayer. If our hearts are pure, and the zeal for God’s house is consuming us, and we desire, above all else, to see God glorified in the earth, then we can pray for God’s hand to be seen in judgment on the earth.

The War We Face

There is a war going on. We, by necessity, have to recognize the war that is being fought between the opposing kingdoms of Light and Darkness. This war cannot be fought halfheartedly or in a position of ease. Jesus told us in Matthew 11:12 that “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Jesus also told us that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (Mt. 16:18).

What we are doing in praying imprecations is advancing the Kingdom of God and proclaiming the crown rights of King Jesus. We are declaring that He has the right to rule in the affairs of the kingdoms of this earth and all those who willfully and continually rebel against that right fall under the judgment of God. We are actively working to see Him honored and worshiped, so that all men may know that Christ, not man, is King.