Article of the Month
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May
We Pray the by James E. Adams Is There a Need? Do you use the Psalms as your own prayer book? Are the people to whom you minister learning to pray from the Psalms? Most Christians are in the habit of entering into the spirit of some of the Psalms as prayers of their own. Probably every human passion or emotion is expressed in the Psalms. So on any given day a Christian may pick up the Psalms and find a vivid expression of his feelings of the moment, whether discouragement, ecstasy, or simply “hanging in there.” Seeing the Psalms as prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ will deepen your understanding of His heart, His sufferings, and His victory on your behalf. But how do these prayers of Christ become your own personal expressions to God? And how can you who are pastors help the sheep of your flocks to pray the imprecatory psalms? You may say, “This is the last thing my church needs! If our hearts are lazy and cold to pray for those we love, how can we think of praying for enemies, as we find in the Psalms?” But I would challenge you, isn’t this the cause of our lack of prayer? We have not learned from the Lord Jesus how to pray! Many Christians are like little children who don’t ever want to acknowledge being taught anything by another. You will often hear them say, “I know that!” Or, if you ask them where they learned something, they will answer, “I just know it!” as though knowledge began within themselves. Do we have the maturity to recognize that even as Christians we do not pray rightly simply by instinct? The very disciples who were constantly in our Lord’s physical presence for instruction felt their need for help in learning to pray. How much more do we need to confess that we are totally unable to pray on our own and humbly ask with those disciples of old, “Lord, teach us to pray”! The Lord Christ responded by giving them a pattern of prayer in the Lord’s Prayer. And when we explore carefully, we find to our amazement that all the praises and petitions of the Psalms fit beautifully under the individual phrases of the Lord’s Prayer. In fact, the prayers of Christ in the Psalms can serve as an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer, teaching us to pray as Jesus taught His disciples. The petition, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” often, overlooked as merely introductory, is really pivotal. Here Christ teaches us to pray for the victory of His kingdom. Can we truly utter this prayer without perceiving that our request involves the complete overthrow of Satan’s kingdom and all his followers? Martin Luther, that great disciple of Christ in prayer, pointed out that when one prays, “Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” then
We must be candid enough to acknowledge that to pray for the extension of God’s kingdom is to solicit the destruction of all other kingdoms. This is the unique prayer life of the disciples of Christ. When we pray as Jesus taught us, we cry out to God for His blessings upon His church and for His curses upon the kingdom of the evil one. As Harry Mennega succinctly stated, “Advance and victory for the Church means retreat and defeat for the kingdom of darkness.”2 Mennega’s excellent unpublished master’s thesis gives practical instruction on the prayer life of the Christian:
Christian Prayer Is Different From Natural Human Emotions Part of the pastor’s work is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Since prayer is a vital component of life and ministry, he must teach God’s people how to pray. And what is Christian prayer? It is not just expressing the needs of our heart.
When we appropriate the prayers of Jesus Christ we are praying acceptably. Only through-His merits are we ever heard by God. Joining Christ, the Head of the church, in praying the Psalms, we make all of our prayers known to God in the name of Jesus. “In Jesus’ name” is not to be merely a ritual or a religious formula but the key that opens God’s ear for all sinners. Closer Look at Psalm 83 As an example of how to pray a specific psalm of imprecation let us consider Psalm 83. This psalm begins with a vigorous cry for help: “O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still.” Then in verses 2-8 the adversary is recognized as those who “plot together” against God and His people, and the schemes of the wicked are disclosed. In the third section of the psalm we find prayers of vengeance (imprecations) against the enemies of the Lord (vv. 9-15). Finally, in verses 16-18 we are given the sacred purpose of all the prayers of justice: “Cover their faces with shame so that men will seek your name, O Lord. May they ever be ashamed and dismayed; may they perish in disgrace.” How can this become your prayer for today? Well, let me ask, are the forces of evil now fewer in number, power, or boldness than then? On the contrary, the ten enemies named there that set themselves up against God have been multiplied many times over in our day. The whole world has announced its rebellion against God. Even the latest “scientific” technology is being used to mold and promote a godless society. But we may well wonder, in what manner can God be attacked—with atom bombs? Absurd! God is truly the exalted One. He sits in the heavens untouched by the puny attacks of men. But the psalmist had noticed the clever way men make their attack upon God: “See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish” (vv. 2-3). What form does their assault take? They pounce upon God’s people! And that attack is real, just as real as if they were using atom bombs. Christians today undergo not only physical persecution but daily attempts of the enemy to destroy the church of Jesus Christ from within: temptation to sin, discouragement, and jealousy. We are bombarded on every front. Have you observed that many television commercials are part of an organized onslaught to breakdown the fortress of the faithful and turn God’s people from His way to paths of rebellion against Him? We are constantly prodded to go after what we “deserve.” These clever and persuasive tools instruct us how to “double our pleasure,” and even tell us that “weekends were made for Michelob.” Evildoers have not changed so much.
The enemies of God are bent on destroying the people of God. This psalm is a prayer for help not just in its original context hundreds of years ago, but for today as well. Its petition is needed as never before by today’s people of God in their righteous cause. How does Christ pray? As we read the psalm we find him asking God: Do to them what you did to others in the past!
The story of Sisera in the book of Judges provides a painfully vivid example of God’s judgment on the wicked. Sisera, as you remember, was a commander in the army of Canaan. “Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help” (Judg. 4:3). God’s response to that cry for help is given in the following verses:
The account goes on to describe with deliberate detail how Sisera then escaped to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, where he was warmly welcomed:
Are we to pray that God will do this to our personal enemies: “O God, pound a tent peg into their head!”? Listen carefully to the words of Deborah and Barak’s song celebrating the victory:
So, do we say: “Do it again, Lord! Do that to my own enemy!”? Never! Never may God’s people pray so out of a spirit of personal vengeance against their enemies. Do we need to be reminded again of our Commander’s orders to love even our enemies? Without assistance how can we ever righteously pray this prayer? I answer this question unequivocally: We never can! We cannot pray this prayer on our own. . . not because we are too good, but rather because we are too prone to evil! Yet we must learn to pray it. How? First, We Must Learn to Pray in Christ If we cannot offer any prayer apart from Jesus Christ, how much less this prayer of God’s wrath and vengeance! As we abide in Christ we learn what it is to pray, “not my will but thine be done.” We request not our own personal advancement or victory over our private enemies but rather the advancement of His kingdom—that His enemies be destroyed. When the enemies of God attack us, we deliberately lay down the sword of personal revenge. If we attempt to avenge ourselves we are still seeking our own way, taking things into our own hands. To pray the imprecations of the Psalms is to surrender all rights for vengeance to God. It means being prepared to suffer and to endure without personal revenge or hatred as Christ did. It involves being gentle and loving even when I am reviled and persecuted. It encompasses acknowledging in all my ways that God’s cause is more important than I am. In fact, to understand fully the imprecations in the Psalms it is essential to remember that “the welfare of man is not the chief end of man” (not even the welfare of redeemed man). Do not forget “that we sinful creatures have no inherent rights which our holy Maker must respect” (not even rights to pursue our own defense).
We must learn to pray Christ’s imprecations just as He taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” Only in Christ can we truly make these prayers for Christian victory. Second, God’s Word Is the Foundation The psalmist is pleading, As you have faithfully destroyed the wicked in the past, do so now. This is the essence of his request: “May all who have set themselves against you be destroyed.” We have observed that such a prayer may not be made because of personal hatred or revenge. Never! But there was an earlier scriptural principle and precedent that guided even the psalmist’s attitude. Hundreds of years before the Psalms were written God had said through His prophet Moses:
The covenant God made with His people included curses for disobedience as well as blessings for obedience. Deuteronomy 27 records the formal giving and receiving of the covenant terms in an awesome account: The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice: “Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol—a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of the craftsman’s hands— and sets it up in secret.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen! “Cursed is the man who
dishonors his father or his mother.” “Cursed is the man who
moves his neighbor’s boundary stone.” “Cursed is the man who
leads the blind astray on the road.” “Cursed is the man who
withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.”
“Cursed is the man who
sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s
bed.” “Cursed is the man who
has sexual relations with any animal.” “Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!” “Cursed is the man who
sleeps with his mother-in-law.” “Cursed is the man who
kills his neighbor secretly.” “Cursed is the man who
accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.” “Cursed is the man who
does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”
Do you see how important it is to grasp the significance of the Old Testament foundations we have been given? If God pronounced a curse even upon His own covenant people, how much more will He destroy the ungodly who rebel against Him? Men set up their own kingdoms, but God has set up His King upon His holy hill, and of those who dare to defy Him, we are told, He “will dash them to pieces like pottery” (Ps. 2:9). Do you pray that this curse may come upon the enemies of God today? Do you ask God to destroy His enemies today as He has in the past? Do you who are pastors instruct your people in this kind of prayer? Surely you must if you pray in line with God’s Word and His promises for the future. Isn’t this the very essence of New Testament prophecies? Does any passage in the entire Old Testament tell more powerfully of God’s paying back “trouble” to those who trouble the people of God than these covenant curses? And once again we find the New Testament echoing the same spirit when it says in 2 Thessalonians:
We must pray these psalms based on God’s prophetic Word of “everlasting destruction.” The issue at hand is not, Does this psalm express my desires of this moment? but rather, Is my desire truly, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done”? Third, Conversion Is the Goal of Our Prayer In verse 16 of the psalm we are given one of the reasons that we should desire that the enemy be brought down. As we pray with the psalmist, “Cover their faces with shame,” do we again wonder, “Why?” It is not out of personal hatred or the spirit of a vendetta. Neither is it so that we can gloat over their destruction. Of course not! Our prayer must be, with the psalmist, “so that men will seek your name, O Lord.” Why are we taught to pray for God’s judgment on the enemy? So that they will be converted! Nothing could be clearer from this prayer. “Wait a minute!” says the modern scholar. “I can’t accept that!” Mitchell Dahood, recognized Ugaritic scholar of the Anchor Bible, for instance, argues that to pray for the conversion of the enemy in this way “is hardly amenable to coherent exegesis within the immediate context and does not accord with the pervading spirit of this Psalm.”6 Then this particular scholar proposes to solve the dilemma he created by changing the text of Scripture! But we are handling God’s own Word, given with purpose. God is revealing to us a primary reason to utter these powerful prayers in Jesus Christ: we pray so that by means of God’s judgment they will be converted. Isn’t the same principle repeatedly at work in Scripture? How often do we see God’s judgment leading men to repentance! Look at the example of Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of the early church, who in his rebellion against Christ was brought to blindness on the road to Damascus. He was granted repentance, faith, and much understanding. Later as the inspired apostle, Paul adds to the clear New Testament witness on this issue:
God consistently leads men to Himself through judgment. There are certain conclusions we can draw from this truth that will help us pray with understanding. 1. No affliction or judgment is too great
if it causes us to seek the Lord!
David Dickson, a Puritan commentator on the Psalms, had it right when he wrote,
Verses 14-15 picture a raging forest fire that completely routs the enemy from its land. How can this result in conversions? The land of Afghanistan gives us a sobering present-day example of this judgment. Afghanistan has been closed to the gospel with very few Christians in the entire country for many years. As a people they have rejected God’s good news, and consequently they have experienced harsh judgment in many forms. But the dreaded invasion of the Soviet troops caused many Afghans to flee to refugee camps outside the borders of their country. In the turmoil and constant change of these camps many Afghans have come to seek the Lord. Some of these are now returning to their homeland as new creatures in Christ, taking the good news of Jesus Christ to their own people. They were covered with shame so that they would seek the Lord. No judgment is too great if it drives people to seek the true God in Jesus Christ. We must learn to pray with this understanding for evil men today. Yes, we ardently desire that they will be led by God’s judgment to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and be saved—even the worst of enemies! 2. All will experience either conversion or
final judgment. Luther’s exposition of John 17:9 gives us careful instruction and a true illustration of this prayer for our enemies:
3. Here is hope for revival! 4. The end purpose of all our prayer is that
God may be glorified. Needed Today: A Revolution in Prayer The revolution that Copernicus spearheaded in the realm of cosmology challenged a worldwide misconception of his time. His research proved the radical notion that the true center of the solar system was not the earth but the sun. In his classic work, Revolution of the Celestial Orbs, Copernicus showed that the prevailing conception of the cosmos needed drastic change. In a similar way today we need to challenge Christendom which has itself as the prime focus of existence. Can we not recognize the error of having our prayers revolve around our feelings, wants, and comforts? Have our prayers become so man-centered that we actually cringe to utter prayers that have God’s glory as their final end? This is indeed the fearful condition of the church today. We need a Copernican revolution in our prayers! What a difference we would see if the church began to perceive that God’s absolute glory is truly the center. May the centrality of God, and God alone, be the goal of our learning! Let this be the prayer of our hearts: “O Christ, come in power and show forth the glory of God. Bring judgment to the wicked that they may seek you . . . and if not, O God, destroy all who won’t bow to you. Let them know that only you, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.” Lord, teach us to pray: “If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!” (1 Cor. 16:22). Questions for Thought and Discussion
Notes
Author James E. Adams is a pastor and the author of Decisional Regeneration and Liberacion El Evangelio de Dios. He earned the D.Min. degree from Westminster Theological Seminary, California. He served as a missionary in Latin America and has taught courses in theology both there and in the United States. This article is from War Psalms of the Prince of Peace: Lessons from the Imprecatory Psalms, published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Phillipsburg, New Jersey. It appears as chapter 5 in that excellent book.
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