Since last Saturday’s savage attack upon Israel by Hamas my Instagram feed has been blowing up with memes exhorting folks to “Pray for Israel.” I obviously agree with that sentiment and have done exactly that. I’d like to add that exhortation to not only pray for Israel, but pray against the Hamas hellhounds. Yep, we should pray imprecatory prayers against Hamas.
King David was the king of imprecatory prayers. David didn’t take the enemy’s crap laying down. He didn’t curl up in the fetal position and wet his big Jewish diaper. He fought back. Sometimes he fought back physically. He always, constantly, fought back spiritually via worship and prayer. And not just any kind of “prayer”, mind you, but a specific kind of prayer that you don’t hear much about anymore in your typical Cheesy Feelgood PC Church even though the Bible is replete with them.
Theologians call these prayers of David, imprecatory prayers, or maledictions. They are prayers to pull out and pray when things get bad. As in real bad. Prayers you use when a nation’s getting mucked up by degenerate priests or politicians, or when the enemy is crushing innocent people, or when your personal demons/flesh are out of control.
David dealt with this pure evil dilemma in Psalm 10. The wicked during his day plotted against him and Israel. They taunted Jehovah. They defied the people of God. They hunted down the righteous. They scorned God and, seemingly, they were getting away with it.
Yep, they were cocksure they would never be held accountable for their demonic actions. But that’s where the malicious were wrong. As in, dead wrong.
Look at what David prayed at these murderous thugs.
Here’s Psalm 10 in The Message Translation.
God, are you avoiding me? Where are you when I need you? Full of hot air, the wicked
are hot on the trail of the poor. Trip them up, tangle them up
in their fine-tuned plots.
The wicked are windbags,
the swindlers have foul breath.
The wicked snub God,
their noses stuck high in the air.
Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls: “Catch us if you can!” “God is dead.”
They care nothing for what you think;
if you get in their way, they blow you off. They live (they think) a charmed life:
“We can’t go wrong. This is our lucky year!”
They carry a mouthful of spells, their tongues spit venom like adders. They hide behind ordinary people, then pounce on their victims.
They mark the luckless,
then wait like a hunter in a blind;
When the poor wretch wanders too close, they stab him in the back.
The hapless fool is kicked to the ground,
the unlucky victim is brutally axed.
He thinks God has dumped him,
he’s sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
Time to get up, God—get moving.
The luckless think they’re Godforsaken. They wonder why the wicked scorn God and get away with it,
Why the wicked are so cocksure
they’ll never come up for audit.
But you know all about it—
the contempt, the abuse.
I dare to believe that the luckless will get lucky someday in you.
You won’t let them down:
orphans won’t be orphans forever.
Break the wicked right arms, break all the evil left arms. Search and destroy
every sign of crime.
God’s grace and order wins; godlessness loses.
The victim’s faint pulse picks up;
the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood as you put your ear to their lips.
Orphans get parents,
the homeless get homes.
The reign of terror is over,
the rule of the gang lords is ended
– Psalm 10 (MSG)
Remember to pray Psalm 10, out loud, the next time you begin to think the wicked will get away with their wickedness and the righteous are doomed to be Satan’s doormat.
* The preceding is from Doug’s new #1 bestseller, Lionhearted: Making Young Christian Males Rowdy Biblical Men. This is a GREAT book for men’s group studies. Also, every 16-25yo Christian male should read this book. It’s pure fire.
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