Psalms 139:19-22 (ESV Strong's)
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Imprecatory Prayers
These verses are examples of Imprecatory prayers. An Imprecatory Prayer is a prayer that calls down God’s wrath on God’s enemies. He is intended to invoke God to do something wrathful against the enemies of God. David prays an imprecatory prayer in the above verses of the psalm and, also, in the closing verses of Psalms 137. If we believe that David was a man after God’s heart (as the scriptures state) and that the Psalms are inspired writings of the Holy Spirit, is it right for today’s believers to pray imprecatory psalms. We are instructed in the New Testament to “pray of our enemies” (Romans 12). We are instructed to intervene and correct those who are walking contrary to Christ (Galatians 6). We are not told in the NT to pray imprecatory prayers. We are told this by the Apostle John:
1 John 5:16 (ESV Strong's)
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.
We are actually told by John to NOT pray a prayer that asks for death of someone sinning. Yet, the writer of Psalms (in this case David) does pray about those who “hate” God that he TOO hates them with “complete hatred.” What are we to make of this? We have people in this world destroying the church of Christ, killing Christians and, as verse 20 states above, “they speak against you (God) with malicious intent.” It should be noted that David was not a perfect man. He, too, had sin in his life. In Psalm 139 he is praising God for His glory and how awesome He is. In that zeal to praise God for His holiness, David gives us a contrast of those who are the polar opposite of God. They are the “wicked.” The “wicked” in Scripture are those who have rejected God, deny God and blaspheme God. David is praying specifically against this type of person. He is not praying down imprecatory prayers and those who simply disagree with him. He is praying down imprecatory prayers and those who openly despise and profane God. If that is their condition, it would appear as praying for their destruction is what God intends by giving us this scripture. Remember, what Paul stated to the Corinthians about the man in the church who was openly, gleefully, living in a perverted sexual manner in the church:
1 Corinthians 5:4-5 (ESV Strong's)
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
That is a pretty firm “imprecatory” prayer. Or, look at what Peter said (not actually a prayer, but certainly was imprecatory) to the husband and wife who lied to the Holy Spirit to win the approval and acceptance of the church by lying about their gift to the church:
Acts 5:9 (ESV Strong's)
9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
When people deny Christ and blaspheme Christ we should pray for God’s mercy to be upon them. But, if they reject God’s mercy, the only thing that is left for them is God’s wrath. We should pray for the destruction of the wicked, because God states countless times in scripture He WILL destroy them. But, since we don’t know the wicked from the righteous, we might be wise to pray generally for mercy and for God’s word to be fulfilled on all those who walk contrary to God. If we know them to reject God openly and blasphemously, we should pray for their souls, but that God would be glorified in how He deals with them.
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