Kenyan Christian: #PRAYER

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Thursday, October 23, 2014

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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

QUESTION: "IS PLEADING THE BLOOD OF JESUS BIBLICAL?"

Answer: “Pleading the blood of Jesus” in prayer is a teaching that can be traced to some of the early leaders of the Word of Faith movement. When people speak of “pleading the blood of Jesus in prayer” they are referring to the practice of “claiming” the power of Christ over any and every problem by using the phrase “I plead the blood of Jesus over _______.”

“Pleading the blood of Jesus” has no basis whatsoever in Scripture. No one in the Bible ever “pleads the blood” of Christ. Those who “plead the blood” do so as if there was something magical in those words or as if by using them their prayer is somehow more powerful. This teaching is born from the misguided and heretical view of prayer that prayer is really nothing more than a way of manipulating God to get what we want rather than praying for His will to be done. The whole Word of Faith movement is founded on the false teaching that faith is a force and if we pray with enough faith, then God guarantees us health, wealth, and happiness and will deliver us from every problem and every situation. In this view, God is simply a way to get what we want instead of being the holy, sovereign, perfect and righteous Creator that the Bible reveals Him to be.

Those who teach this Word-Faith falsehood have an exalted view of man and our “rights” to plead what we want and get God to respond the way we want. This is in opposition to true biblical faith exemplified by Paul’s life and his approach to suffering and trials. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). But Word of Faith teaches that if we suffer or are sick or struggle with sin, it is because we do not have enough faith or that we are not pleading the blood of Jesus to claim what is rightfully ours. But we do not see Paul pleading the blood of Christ or claiming what is “rightfully his” when he was faced with trials and persecution. Instead we see his unwavering faith in Christ no matter what the situation: “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 2:12).

Paul had “learned in whatever state I am in to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13). Paul’s faith was in Christ alone, and he could say with conviction “the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever, Amen!” (2 Timothy 4:18).

“Pleading the blood” as it is commonly practiced has more in common with mysticism—reciting a magical formula and hoping it works—than it does with biblical prayer. Saying certain words does not make our prayers magically more powerful. Furthermore, “pleading the blood” of Christ is not needed to defeat Satan. He has already been defeated, and if we are truly born-again, Satan has no power over us other than what God allows for His purpose and glory. Colossians 1:13 makes this perfectly clear: “For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins.”

Rather than “pleading the blood” of Christ for protection or power, Christians should obey the command in James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Rather than practicing an unbiblical model of prayer, we are to follow the simple precepts of Scripture—leading a pure life before God, taking captive all our thoughts to avoid giving sin a place, confessing our sins when we fail those first two precepts and putting on the full armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6:13-17.

The Bible gives us numerous instructions in victorious living in Christ, and pleading “the blood of Jesus” is not one of them. We have been cleansed by the blood of Christ and He is our High Priest and mediator who “always lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). As His sheep we are already under His protection, we simply need to live day by day trusting in Him for what He has already promised and provided.

Recommended Resources: Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century by Hank Hanegraaff and Logos Bible Software.

While he is not the author of every article on GotQuestions.org, for citation purposes, you may reference our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.

Related Topics:

Are faith healers for real? Does a faith healer heal with the same power as Jesus?

What does the Bible say about the prosperity gospel?

What is the Toronto blessing?

Why are there so many televangelist scandals?

What is holy laughter?

Return to:

Questions about False Doctrine

Thursday, September 26, 2013

SATAN OPPOSSES GOD'S WORD

"Take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17).

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the parable of the sower and the seed: "Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up. . . . But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop" (vv. 3-8).
Jesus went on to explain that the seed is the truth of God's Word. Satan and his demonic forces can snatch it away from those who hear it yet don't understand what it means. They can bring affliction and persecution against those who have an emotional commitment only, thereby causing them to lose heart and fall away. In some cases they choke out the Word with worry and the deceitfulness of riches (vv. 19-22).
But truly repentant sinners receive and nurture the gospel truth, just as prepared soil receives and nurtures seed. They hear it, understand it, receive it, and produce spiritual fruit (v. 23).
Proclaiming the gospel is an important aspect of taking the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). As you do, others are saved and join God's army. But be warned: Satan never gives up territory without a fight. Some of the people you witness to will forget what you tell them. Others will refuse to turn from worldly influences. Still others may respond emotionally, but without a genuine commitment to serving Christ and forsaking sin.
Those spiritual battles should compel you to bathe your evangelism in prayer and undergird it with a clear gospel presentation. If people understand precisely what it means to receive Christ, and if their hearts are prepared by the Holy Spirit, they'll not be so easily victimized by satanic opposition.

Suggestions for Prayer:
Ask the Lord to give you an opportunity to share Christ with someone today, or to encourage a struggling believer.

For Further Study:
Read 1 Thessalonians 3:1-8.

What was Paul's concern for the Thessalonian believers?
What did he do to eliminate his concern?

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.
Additional Resources

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

DOES GOD ANSWER THE PRAYERS OF UNBELIEVERS

By John MacArthur.

God is sovereign and can choose to answer any prayer He sees fit. But Scripture clearly indicates that God does not listen to or answer every prayer. In fact, Scripture gives at least fifteen reasons for unanswered prayer. God does not answer the prayer of those:
1) Who have personal and selfish motives.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:3).

2) Who regard iniquity in their hearts.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear (Psalm 66:18).

3) Who remain in sin.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:2). Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him (John 9:31).

4) Who offer unworthy service to God.

"You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, 'How have we defiled You?' In that you say, 'The table of the LORD is to be despised.' But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts. "But now will you not entreat God's favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts.

5) Who forsake God.

Thus says the Lord to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins." Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence (Jeremiah 14:10-12).

6) Who reject God's call.

Because I [Wisdom] have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke.... Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me (Proverbs 1:24-25, 28).

7) Who will not heed God's law.

One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination (Proverbs 28:9). "But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen," says the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 7:11-13).

8) Who turn a deaf ear to the cry of the poor.

Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, Will also cry himself and not be heard. (Proverbs 21:13).

9) Who are violent.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood (Isaiah 1:15; see also 59:2-3).

10) Who worship idols.

Therefore thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble." (Jeremiah 11:11-14; see also Ezekiel 8:15-18).

11) Who have no faith.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-7).

12) Who are living in hypocrisy.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).

13) Who are proud of heart.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).

14) Who are self-righteous.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:11-14).

15) Who mistreat God's people.

You have also given me the necks of my enemies, So that I destroyed those who hated me. They cried out, but there was none to save; Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them (Psalm 18:40-41).You who hate good and love evil; Who strip the skin from My people, And the flesh from their bones; Who also eat the flesh of My people, Flay their skin from them, Break their bones, And chop them in pieces, Like meat for the pot, Like flesh in the caldron. Then they will cry to the Lord, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds (Micah 3:2-4).

So, does God answer the prayers of unbelievers? A strict yes or no answer is difficult without qualifying the answer in various ways. However, it is noteworthy that the above mentioned principles represent some of the key characteristics of an unbeliever. Thus we can safely say that, in general, God does not answer the prayers of an unbeliever.

Related Resources (free):

Monday, August 12, 2013

QUESTION: "WHAT IS PRAYING IN TONGUES? IS PRAYING IN TONGUES A PRAYER LANGUAGE BETWEEN A BELIEVER AND GOD?"

Answer: As a background, please read our article on the gift of speaking in tongues. There are four primary Scripture passages that are cited as evidence for praying in tongues: Romans 8:26; 1 Corinthians 14:4-17; Ephesians 6:18; and Jude verse 20. Ephesians 6:18 and Jude 20 mention “praying in the Spirit.” However, tongues as a prayer language is not a likely interpretation of “praying in the Spirit.”

Romans 8:26 teaches us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Two key points make it highly unlikely that Romans 8:26 is referring to tongues as a prayer language. First, Romans 8:26 states that it is the Spirit who “groans,” not believers. Second, Romans 8:26 states that the “groans” of the Spirit “cannot be expressed.” The very essence of speaking in tongues is uttering words.

That leaves us with 1 Corinthians 14:4-17 and verse 14 especially: “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” First Corinthians 14:14 distinctly mentions “praying in tongues.” What does this mean? First, studying the context is immensely valuable. First Corinthians chapter 14 is primarily a comparison/contrast of the gift of speaking in tongues and the gift of prophecy. Verses 2-5 make it clear that Paul views prophecy as a gift superior to tongues. At the same time, Paul exclaims the value of tongues and declares that he is glad that he speaks in tongues more than anyone (verse 18).

Acts chapter 2 describes the first occurrence of the gift of tongues. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles spoke in tongues. Acts chapter 2 makes it clear that the apostles were speaking in a human language (Acts 2:6-8). The word translated “tongues” in both Acts chapter 2 and 1 Corinthians chapter 14 is glossa which means “language.” It is the word from which we get our modern English word “glossary.” Speaking in tongues was the ability to speak in a language the speaker does not know, in order to communicate the gospel to someone who does speak that language. In the multicultural area of Corinth, it seems that the gift of tongues was especially valuable and prominent. The Corinthians believers were able to better communicate the gospel and God’s Word as a result of the gift of tongues. However, Paul made it abundantly clear that even in this usage of tongues, it was to be interpreted or “translated” (1 Corinthians 14:13, 27). A Corinthian believer would speak in tongues, proclaiming God’s truth to someone who spoke that language, and then that believer, or another believer in the church, was to interpret what was spoken so that the entire assembly could understand what was said.

What, then, is praying in tongues, and how is it different than speaking in tongues? First Corinthians 14:13-17 indicates that praying in tongues is also to be interpreted. As a result, it seems that praying in tongues was offering a prayer to God. This prayer would minister to someone who spoke that language, but would also need to be interpreted so that the entire body could be edified.

This interpretation does not agree with those who view praying in tongues as a prayer language. This alternate understanding can be summarized as follows: praying in tongues is a personal prayer language between a believer and God (1 Corinthians 13:1) that a believer uses to edify himself (1 Corinthians 14:4). This interpretation is unbiblical for the following reasons: 1) How could praying in tongues be a private prayer language if it is to be interpreted (1 Corinthians 14:13-17)? 2) How could praying in tongues be for self-edification when Scripture says that the spiritual gifts are for the edification of the church, not the self (1 Corinthians 12:7). 3) How can praying in tongues be a private prayer language if the gift of tongues is a “sign to unbelievers” (1 Corinthians 14:22)? 4) The Bible makes it clear that not everyone possesses the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:11, 28-30). How could tongues be a gift for self-edification if not every believer can possess it? Do we not all need to be edified?

Some understand praying in tongues to be a “secret code language” that prevents Satan and his demons from understanding our prayers and thereby gaining an advantage over us. This interpretation is unbiblical for the following reasons: 1) The New Testament consistently describes tongues as a human language. It is unlikely that Satan and his demons are unable to understand human languages. 2) The Bible records countless believers praying in their own language, out loud, with no concern of Satan intercepting the prayer. Even if Satan and/or his demons hear and understand the prayers we pray, they have absolutely no power to prevent God from answering the prayers according to His will. We know that God hears our prayers, and that fact makes it irrelevant whether Satan and his demons hear and understand our prayers.

What do we say, then, about the many Christians who have experienced praying in tongues and find it to be very personally edifying? First, we must base our faith and practice on Scripture, not experience. We must view our experiences in light of Scripture, not interpret Scripture in light of our experiences. Second, many of the cults and world religions also report occurrences of speaking in tongues/praying in tongues. Obviously the Holy Spirit is not gifting these unbelieving individuals. So, it seems that the demons are able to counterfeit the gift of speaking in tongues. This should cause us to compare even more carefully our experiences with Scripture. Third, studies have shown how speaking/praying in tongues can be a learned behavior. Through hearing and observing others speak in tongues, a person can learn the procedure, even subconsciously. This is the most likely explanation for the vast majority of instances of speaking/praying in tongues among Christians. Fourth, the feeling of “self-edification” is natural. The human body produces adrenaline and endorphins when it experiences something new, exciting, emotional, and/or disconnected from rational thought.

Praying in tongues is most definitely an issue on which Christians can respectfully and lovingly agree to disagree. Praying in tongues is not what determines salvation. Praying in tongues is not what separates a mature Christian from an immature Christian. Whether or not there is such a thing as praying in tongues as a personal prayer language is not a fundamental of the Christian faith. So, while we believe the biblical interpretation of praying in tongues leads away from the idea of a private prayer language for personal edification, we also recognize that many who practice such are our brothers and sisters in Christ and are worthy of our love and respect.

Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software and Are Miraculous Gifts for Today - Four Views edited by Wayne Grudem.

While he is not the author of every article on GotQuestions.org, for citation purposes, you may reference our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.

Related Topics:

What is the gift of speaking in tongues?

What is glossolalia?

Are the miraculous gifts of the Spirit for today?

What is the Pentecostal Church and what do Pentecostals believe?

What is the spiritual gift of interpreting tongues?

QUESTION: "WHAT IS PROPHETIC PRAYER?"

Answer: Like other aspects of the “prayer movement,” such as soaking prayer, prophetic prayer—or prophetic intercession—is an unbiblical practice that seeks to ascribe to the pray-er power and privilege that have no foundation in Scripture.

The practitioners of prophetic prayer believe they are praying the very words of God into the world. This type of prayer is performed by self-styled “prophets” who believe they can deliver messages straight from the throne room of God, thus acting as conduits for God’s Word and making their prayers “prophetic.” But the Bible tells us that the canon of Scripture is closed (Revelation 22:18). This means that God is not giving new revelation to so-called prophets today. He has spoken through His Word, and our job is to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 1:3). We are not to seek further revelations from God.

Prophetic prayer is usually described as the act of commanding God’s “prophetic vision” to be fulfilled in the earth, with the result that God’s will is accomplished. Prophetic prayer is taught in some charismatic ministries as a means of bringing God’s judgment on the earth and ushering in God’s Kingdom. Prophetic prayer is aimed at individuals, so they will fulfill their “prophetic purpose” (their service in God’s plan), and at the world in general, so God’s desires can be accomplished on earth. But Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6 teaches us to submit to God’s will; it does not teach that we possess special powers to actualize God’s will. God’s plan will come to pass on His exact timetable, which He has not shared with us (Matthew 24:36; 25:13; Mark 13:32; Luke 12:37-47). Demanding His judgment to fall and His kingdom to come at the will of the “prophet” is arrogant—and possibly blasphemous. The Lord is the one who will bring to pass all His will: “What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do” (Isaiah 46:11).

Prophetic prayer assumes the existence of modern-day prophets, men and women who are God’s spokesmen in the world and who can utter divine revelation with all the authority of God Himself. When someone engages in prophetic prayer, he is not asking for God’s will to be done; he is commanding God’s will to be done, and he believes that—as the rain fell when Elijah prayed—he must be obeyed.

Those who teach prophetic prayer point to Jesus’ model prayer, which includes the words “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This verse, they say, teaches that we should demand God’s will in the world around us. As a modern-day prophet speaks God’s words “into the earth” or “into the atmosphere,” he believes that he changes his environment to conform to God’s command and paves the way for God’s purpose. Prophetic pray-ers believe they do not just predict what will happen; they believe they actually create the thing predicted! Prophetic prayer is believed to actually bring into existence its own answer. But the Bible declares that God alone decides when, where, and how He will act. We are to pray for Him to act according to His perfect will and timing, not according to our own.

Those who teach prophetic prayer also believe that God uses prophets to provide answers to other people’s prayers. If someone is seeking an answer to prayer, God may urge a prophet to pray prophetically, so the other person’s prayer will be answered. But the Bible teaches that the answer to our prayers is not dependent on any “prophet” in this world. There is only one Mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). Is prophetic prayer biblical? No.

Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software and Prayer, The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah.

While he is not the author of every article on GotQuestions.org, for citation purposes, you may reference our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.

Related Topics:

What is Sozo prayer?

What is contemplative spirituality?

Someone gave me a prophetic word/prophesied over me. What is the interpretation?

What is contemplative prayer?

What is the Lord's prayer and should we pray it?

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Questions about Prayer

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH: CHARISMATICS AND ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM

John MacArthur
God never intended His people to worship Him apart from the use of their minds. Real spirituality begins with a precise understanding of truth. Yet I see much of contemporary Christianity heading down the paths of mystical experience and fantasy.
That was illustrated in an article I once read in the Los Angeles Times:

PASADENA, Calif.-Under the militant banner of "spiritual warfare," a growing number of evangelical and charismatic Christian leaders are preparing broad assaults on what they call the cosmic powers of darkness. Fascinated with the notion that Satan commands a hierarchy of territorial demons, some mission agencies and big-church pastors are devising strategies for "breaking the strongholds" of those evil spirits alleged to be controlling cities and countries. Some proponents in the fledgling movement already claim focused prayer meetings ended the curse of the Bermuda Triangle, led to the 1985 downfall of guru Baghwan Shree Rajneesh and produced a two-week drop in crime and freeway traffic in Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympics. Fuller Seminary professor C. Peter Wagner, who has written extensively on the subject, led a so called summit meeting on cosmic-level spiritual warfare ... in Pasadena, Calif. Two dozen men and women took part, including a Texas couple who head a group called the "Generals of Intercession" and an Oregon man who conducts "spiritual-warfare bootcamps." In his opening remarks, Wagner said, "If you do not know what you are doing, and few ... have the necessary expertise, Satan will eat you for breakfast."

I am fearful that this type of mindset is just one example of how the church has fallen victim to the New Age Movement, a thinly veiled form of Hindu mysticism. It is belief in everything, and a belief in nothing-with no distinction between reality and fantasy.
Much of the professing church is in perfect harmony with the New Age movement's spirit of anti-intellectualism. For example, the Roman Catholic Church emphasizes ritual-a mechanical anti-intellectualism in which mystical ceremony replaces intelligent worship. Here Scripture becomes subservient to the church.
Liberal Protestants have emphasized social reform-a political anti-intellectualism produced by the despair of trying to find truth without submitting to the authority of Scripture as the standard for ruling the church.
Charismatics have long emphasized subjectivism-an experiential anti-intellectualism that is the product of weak theology and a careless handling of Scripture.
Those trends all contribute to a kind of mindless, mystical Christianity that is the antithesis of God's design for His church.
That's why I'm so concerned. A seminary professor claims that if we don't learn some mysterious techniques of spiritual warfare, Satan will eat us for breakfast! Is that true? The apostle Peter said, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). But the context is calling for sobriety and vigilance, not a mystical cosmic warfare strategy.
Some suggest all we need to do is bind Satan-just say, "Satan, I bind you," and he is caught. They cite Matthew 12:29, where Jesus says, "How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house."
But Jesus was dispelling the Pharisees' foolish accusation that He worked under Satan's power (vv. 27-28), not relating a scenario whereby believers could "bind" Satan. He used the illustration of a thief, who, planning to rob a strong man's house while the man was there, would first have to bind him or risk being arrested and beaten. Jesus' point was that He had demonstrated to the Pharisees and all Israel His power over Satan and the kingdom of evil. Only God has the power and authority to enter the very house of Satan, successfully bind him, and carry off his property. Even Paul was hindered by Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Are we to assume he didn't know the correct formula?
There is no magic phrase or mantra we can say that will bind Satan, but God has not left us without a divine strategy for dealing with him. God's strategy centers on objective truth, not subjective experience. It begins with sound doctrine, not cabalistic technique. Yet ironically, those who talk most about warfare against Satan often minimize the importance of doctrine.
In Ephesians 6:11 Paul says, "Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." What is our armor? It consists of the belt of truthfulness (not merely knowing the truth, but being committed to it), the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace (confidence that we have made peace with God), the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation (confidence in our security in Christ), and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. None of those hints at any secret technique. Rather, they speak of clear understanding and a solid commitment to biblical truth and holiness.
When we resist Satan by taking our stand in the armor of God's truth, he flees. James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Peter said, "Resist him, firm in the faith" (1 Peter 5:9, emphasis added)-firm in the Christian faith, which is the revealed truth. This is objective truth, not some unseen cosmic force. Since Satan is a deceiver and a liar, we can successfully resist him only by knowing and obeying the truth.
Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Again, we don't battle Satan with magic words and imaginary forces; we rely on the power of His truth as it brings even our thoughts captive to our Lord. That is genuine and ultimate victory over satanic forces.
No matter how Satan attacks, the solution is the same. We stand in the truth. We don't need to learn hidden strategies to fight Satan. God's truth is the supreme weapon against the father of lies (cf. John 8:44). Only when we know the truth and commit ourselves to obey it will we stand strong.

Related Resources (free):

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

QUESTION: "WHAT IS SOAKING PRAYER?"

Answer: Since the 1990s there has been an increased focus on mysticism within various segments of Christianity. Bordering on the esoteric, these mystical experiences broaden the division between a "factual faith" and a "felt faith," and threaten to replace sound biblical teaching with emotion-driven response. Soaking prayer is one such mystical activity. It is described as resting in God's presence. This is accomplished by playing some gentle worship songs, either sitting or lying down, and praying short, simple prayers for an extended period of time, but otherwise keeping your mind free of other thoughts. At the point when you sense God's presence through some type of manifestation like tingling skin, a sensation of heat or cold, or even a gentle wind seemingly blowing through your body, you are to just "soak" in that presence.

Although that might sound a little strange to some, it does not immediately come across as being necessarily bad. However, the rule by which we measure our experiences in life is the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and when soaking prayer is examined accordingly, we find that it comes up wanting for biblical support. Nowhere in the Bible can a model of prayer be found that soaking prayer follows.

Prayer in its simplest form in the Bible is calling on the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26), and in each instance where it is found in Scripture, it is descriptive of communicating with God. Soaking prayer starts that way, but quickly devolves into a trance-like meditative state. This is when soaking prayer ceases to be biblical and becomes more like a New Age practice or something an adherent of Hinduism would participate in.

There is no denying that experiencing the presence of God can be powerful and life changing. It is not the goal of soaking prayer that is biblically errant; it is its methodology. Soaking prayer focuses on obtaining a spiritual experience by seeking out the presence of God through mystical exercises. In this it is similar to ”contemplative prayer” and contemplative spirituality, which are equally unbiblical. Biblical prayer is talking to God with His will in mind (1 John 5:14). A biblically praying believer already understands that God's presence is always with him (Psalm 139:7; Matthew 28:20; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:14), and he doesn’t need to experience any type of physical sensation to prove it.

Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software and Prayer, The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah.

While he is not the author of every article on GotQuestions.org, for citation purposes, you may reference our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.

Related Topics:

What is Sozo prayer?

What is contemplative spirituality?

What is the emerging / emergent church movement?

What is contemplative prayer?

What is centering prayer?

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Questions about Prayer

Monday, May 20, 2013

QUESTION: "WHAT IS PROPHETIC PRAYER?"

Thursday, November 29, 2012

QUESTION : " WHAT IS PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT ? "

Answer: Praying in the Spirit is mentioned three times in Scripture. First Corinthians 14:15says, “So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.” Ephesians 6:18 says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Jude 20 says, “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” So, what exactly does it mean to pray in the Spirit?

The Greek word translated “pray in” can have several different meanings. It can mean “by means of,” “with the help of,” “in the sphere of,” and “in connection to.” Praying in the Spirit does not refer to the words we are saying. Rather, it refers to how we are praying. Praying in the Spirit is praying according to the Spirit’s leading. It is praying for things the Spirit leads us to pray for. Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

Some, based on 1 Corinthians 14:15, equate praying in the Spirit with praying in tongues. Discussing the gift of tongues, Paul mentions “pray with my spirit.” First Corinthians 14:14states that when a person prays in tongues, he does not know what he is saying, since it is spoken in a language he does not know. Further, no one else can understand what is being said, unless there is an interpreter (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). In Ephesians 6:18, Paul instructs us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” How are we to pray with all kinds of prayers and requests and pray for the saints, if no one, including the person praying, understands what is being said? Therefore, praying in the Spirit should be understood as praying in the power of the Spirit, by the leading of the Spirit, and according to His will, not as praying in tongues.

Recommended Resource: Prayer, The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah.

Monday, November 26, 2012

THANKSGIVING 365 ; ~ PROVERBS 15:16-17 ~

I am writing these words the day after Thanksgiving.

Yesterday Marlene and I traveled to Oxford, Mississippi to spend time with my brother Andy, his wife Betty, and their daughter Megan. My brother Alan and his wife Donna brought a fried turkey. Marlene had prepared several dishes for the grand celebration. We spent time eating, laughing, telling stories, eating some more, and some of us watched football.

When we got home in the evening, Josh and Leah did a video chat with us using FaceTime. As soon as we started, our two-year-old grandson Knox climbed up on the couch with a toy fire truck in one hand and a stuffed monkey in the other. When we asked him if he liked Thanksgiving, he thought for a second and then said, “Yes.” So we asked what he had to eat. Another pause, then “Bananas.” Anything else? I heard Leah whisper, “Muffins,” which Knox repeated. Anything else? Another pause, and then something that sounded like “chicken pot pie.”

So there you have Thanksgiving through the eyes of a two-year-old. Bananas, muffins, and something that sounded like chicken pot pie.

When I checked in on Facebook, I saw pictures of family gatherings from all across the country. There were good wishes, expressions of thanksgiving to God, and pictures of tables laden with food.

I saw this on one of those humorous ecards that pop up on Facebook from time to time:

Thanksgiving is all about getting your entire dysfunctional family under one roof and hoping the police don’t get called!

We chuckle because it is all too true. Adrian Rogers highlighted this problem this way:

“We buy things we do not need, with money we do not have, to impress people we do not like.”

You might call this the “other side” of Thanksgiving. Not every family gathering is a happy time. As I thought about that, I pondered the words of Proverbs 15:15,

“All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast."

I love that last phrase. “The cheerful heart has a continual feast." People with a cheerful heart have Thanksgiving 365 days a year. What is the secret? In Proverbs 15:16-17 Solomon reveals two qualities that produce the cheerful heart that enjoys a continual feast. These attitudes of the heart are within the reach of all of us because they do not depend on income, position, reputation, education, the size of our bank account, or any sort of worldly attainment.

The least among us may have a “continual feast” wherever we go if we take these two verses to heart.

I. Fill Your Heart With Faith.

“Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil” (v. 16)

Check out the first word: “Better.”

Some things are better than others. Solomon (who was the richest man in the world) does not mean to exalt poverty as if it is to be preferred to wealth. Most poor people would like to be wealthy if given the chance, and many of them work long hours to try and get ahead.

So this is not a proverb in praise of living on the edge of financial disaster.

But from the beginning of time, there have always been more poor than rich. It’s not as if the world’s resources are evenly distributed. And no matter how the politicians may try to redistribute the wealth, there will always be more poor people. This is less a statement about the way things ought to be than a statement about the way things are. No doubt this is what Jesus meant when he said, “The poor you will always have with you” (Matthew 26:11). Those words, which can seem callous, must be interpreted in the same light as our proverb. Jesus explains himself in the last part of that verse when he says, “But you will not always have me."

Some things matter more than other things.
If Jesus is among you, spend time with him while you can.
Then go and feed the poor.
Feed your spirit and then feed the hungry.

The words of Solomon remind us that wealth is no panacea. Yes, it is true that money is the answer for everything (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Better to have some money than none at all. Yes, the rich have large houses, nice furnishings, excellent medical insurance, and protection against many troubles.

But death comes to the rich just as it does to the poor.
The rich get cancer and die.
The rich divorce.
The rich have problems with their children.

Wealth provides only a limited protection in this world. Wealth cannot compensate for the breakup of a marriage, for children in jail, or sudden death. I read about a wealthy man whose son died in a plane crash. Speaking of it later, he said, “Once you lose your son, you find out that there is no such thing as serious money. Life and death are serious, money is not.”

If we have to choose between wealth and the fear of the Lord, let us choose the latter. In point of fact, most of us don’t get the choice. The vast majority of the world will never be wealthy. But we can all fear the Lord.

Wealth is a Relative Term

There is another way to look at it. Wealth by definition is a relative term. As I write these words, I’m sitting in my office in my home. My wife and I live in a three-bedroom house with a large front yard and a fenced-in backyard so Dudley, our beloved basset hound, won’t run away. We have one car that is parked at the moment in our attached garage. I can hear music playing in the living room as Marlene prepares a meal in the kitchen. We have one TV, two laptop computers, two iPhones, one iPad, and one Nook ereader. Since we plan to move soon, most of our belongings are packed in the garage. Two years ago I gave away 40 boxes of books to a local pastor. Now I’m down to three or four boxes of books. We have a king-size bed, some furniture, and our clothes plus some personal items. When the time comes to move, we won’t need a huge truck. We moved here in a 26-foot rental truck back in 2005. I doubt we would need one that large now.

After decades of accumulating things, we’ve been in a de-accumulation mode for a few years. I think most people go through something like that. You work and save and buy and invest and build and decorate and then you store the excess. But as life rolls on and the kids grow up and move away, you find that some of the things you couldn’t do without don’t seem to matter very much. While packing for our eventual move to Dallas, I find myself asking, “What do we have that we can do without?” I figure that if I haven’t touched a book in 20 years, I probably won’t touch it in the next 20 either so why take it with us?

I thought about that, and then my mind went to the trip Josh and I took to India in January. While we were in Mumbai, we passed by slums that defy all human imagination. There millions of men and women and boys and girls live in circumstances of such grinding poverty that it almost numbs the mind. My good friend Benny Mathews showed us places where people live in cardboard boxes under bridges. Not a few, but thousands and then millions, side by side. He said that ten men may share the same tiny space, sleeping in shifts while the others go to work.

The men and women who live like that hardly worry about what to take with them when they move. They own the clothes on their back and not much else. Compared to them, I am the wealthy man of verse 16.

It is “better” to live with a roof over your head and with money in the bank and with food on the table, but it is “better” yet to live with the fear of the Lord in your heart. One need not feel sorry for having more than someone else, but what a fool I am if I think that I somehow deserve what I have or that I am somehow “better” than someone who has less than I do.

What do I have that I did not receive?
It is all a gift from God.

That includes every meal, every drink of clean water, every bit of electricity that powers my computers, every book I read, every shirt I wear, and every bowl of soup put before me.

Solomon does not ask those who have more to feel guilty about what they have. After all, even in the slums some have more and some have less. Look around. Someone will always be ahead of you, someone will be behind you, and others will be right where you are.

But not everything is equal. Better to live in poverty and know the Lord than to be the richest man in the world and think you did it yourself. The rich man eventually discovers that his riches take wings and fly away. If he doesn’t discover it in this life, he discovers it when he dies because all that he worked so hard for, he leaves behind.

In that respect, we all come in and go out the same way. The lesson is clear. Most of us will never be truly rich in this world’s goods, but we can all be rich in faith and love and rich in the knowledge of our God.

J. I. Packer tells of an acquaintance whose career derailed because of his evangelical convictions. When asked if he harbored any ill feelings, he replied quite simply: “I’ve known God and they haven’t.” Packer goes on to note that most of us would not feel comfortable speaking in such straightforward terms. But the terms are entirely biblical. Knowing God does make a difference and is the defining characteristic of those who follow Jesus Christ. To know God deeply and intimately more than makes up for the things we lose because of our faith.

Writing 250 years ago, English pastor John Gill summarizes the blessings of the man who fears the Lord:

For such a man, though he has but little, which is the common portion of good men, yet he does not lack; be has enough, and is content; what he has he has with a blessing, and he enjoys it, and God in it, and has communion with him; and has also other bread to eat, the world knows nothing of: and particularly having the fear of God, the eye of God is upon him with pleasure; his heart is towards him, and sympathizes with him in all his troubles; his hand communicates unto him both temporal and spiritual meat, which is given to them that fear the Lord; his angels encamp about him, his power protects him; his secrets are with him, and inconceivable and inexpressible goodness is laid up for him.

Let this one sentence sink in: “What he has he has with a blessing, and he enjoys it, and God in it, and has communion with him.” Can the world offer anything better than that?

II. Fill Your Home With Love.

“Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred” (v. 17).

Here are a few other translations of this verse:

“Better a meal of greens with love than a plump calf with hate” (CEB).

The Contemporary English Version offers us this beautiful reading:

“A simple meal with love is better than a feast where there is hatred.”

The ERV simplifies the meaning down to the bare essentials:

“It is better to eat a little where there is love than to eat a lot where there is hate.”

Finally we have this from Eugene Peterson (The Message):

“Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate.”

All the versions come out at the same place. The most bountiful feast in the world may be ruined if the people at the table hate each other. Discord at the dinner table destroys a good meal, no matter how sumptuous the fare, whether it be prime rib or T-bone steaks or turkey and dressing with all the trimmings. Your cooking may equal what they offer on the Food Channel, but if your loved ones do not really love each other, what good is all that effort and all that time and all that money?

You might as well skip the meal altogether.

The word “vegetables” refers to the simple fare that a poor family might share. It might be spinach or collard greens or cabbage. This family is so poor that they are vegetarian by necessity, not by choice. When they come together, they share nothing but a handful of stewed greens. It is not extravagant, but it tastes good because it is served with love.

Solomon doesn’t mean to elevate poverty above wealth. He merely reminds us that money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. It certainly doesn’t guarantee a happy family or a harmonious Thanksgiving dinner.

It’s a Wonderful Life

The point is, we know these things. We don’t need Solomon to tell us because deep down we know that faith and love matter far more than money or fame. That’s one reason why It’s a Wonderful Life remains one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time. When George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve, it takes the help of an angel named Clarence to help him see the difference his life has made. As it happens, three of the best lines in the movie come from the angel:

“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

“You see George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to just throw it away?”

The third one isn’t a spoken line. It’s the inscription in a book left for George by the angel as the movie comes to its climax:

“Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.”

So if we know these things, why does Solomon have to remind us? Because we need reminding, that’s why. Because we all live under the spell of the big world with its flashing lights, alluring games, beautiful people, and all the promises of the “good life” on the other side of the street.

In recent days we’ve been asked to contemplate why powerful men will seemingly throw away all their common sense and after a lifetime of brilliant success have an affair that suddenly is splashed on TV, radio, and across the Internet. There really isn’t one particular answer to that question, except to note that going back as far as King David, powerful men have been tempted by beautiful women who were available to them, and that led to all sorts of foolishness and ultimately to the sort of behavior that those same men and women would have sworn they would never have done. That’s a long sentence written that way to emphasize what is left out, which is that these temptations apply not only to rich and beautiful people but to all the rest of us as well. Some not-so-beautiful people have done amazingly dumb things too. One can only hope that the finger pointing will lead us all to honest self-examination.

You don’t have to be a four-star general to blow up your life, your career, and your family.

This may sound like I’ve changed the subject, but really I haven’t because all of this is Solomon’s subject. Remember the operative word is “better.” It’s better to enjoy a simple meal where love abounds than to feast at the finest restaurant in Paris, drink the finest wines, and be surrounded by people you can’t stand. As the man on the midway says, “You pays your money and you takes your chances.” Thousands of people will read Solomon, nod in agreement, and then go out and blow up their own family by a round of foolish choices.

The point is, we know these things are true.

Thanksgiving is a Choice

But you don’t have to live this way. Choose today whom you will serve, the Bible says. “See, I have set before you today life and death. Choose life, that you may live.” That’s wonderful advice, first given by Moses to the children of Israel, but even after all that wandering in the desert, and after a whole generation died, they still made the same mistakes over and over again.

Lately I’ve been reading (and listening) to the psalms in my quiet time. When I came to Psalm 78 (which recounts the early history of Israel) I was struck by the emphasis on how Israel kept messing up and how God judged them and then forgave them, and then they would do it all over again.

You can read it for yourself. I’m not exaggerating at all. God ends up being the real hero of the story.

“How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and grieved him in the wasteland!
Again and again they put God to the test;
    they vexed the Holy One of Israel” (vv. 40-41)

The people who knew what God had said either forgot or didn’t care or thought they had a better idea or just decided to do things their own way. It never worked out. Then you come to a wonderful verse like this:

“But he brought his people out like a flock;
    he led them like sheep through the wilderness” (v. 52).

That’s us. We’re God’s sheep. Every time you turn around, we’re going our own way (see Isaiah 53:6). Left to ourselves, we’ll get lost, or we’ll wander back to Egypt, or we’ll start fighting each other, or we’ll end up as supper for the wolves. We’re unruly and we don’t like to be led and sometimes we’re just plain dumb.

But God leads his sheep all the way through the wilderness. By his grace, eventually we make it to safety and rest and shelter.

There is a “better” way to live, but it depends on us believing that our Shepherd knows what he is doing even when we think we have a better idea. If we have faith and if we have love, then we have what we need at this very moment. I love how Matthew Henry puts it:

“It is therefore far better, and more desirable, to have but a little of the world and to have it with a good conscience, to keep up communion with God, and enjoy him in it, and live by faith, than to have the greatest plenty and live without God in the world."

Matthew Henry and Solomon agree. Some things are better than other things. If you have a lot or if you have a little, as long as you have God, you have what you need. Better to have God than to live without him in the world.

I leave you with the song made famous by George Beverly Shea. It seems to perfectly capture the deeper meaning of our text.

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand

Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

Perhaps we should all say those words out loud and let them be our application of this truth.

I’d rather have Jesus.
How about you?

Friday, October 12, 2012

PSALM 109 : A PRAYER FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED

Study By: Bob Deffinbaugh

From the Series: A Psalm for All Seasons: Studies in the Book of Psalms

Introduction

A very difficult text from Judges 19 which I preached several years ago describes the gruesome account of the attempted homosexual rape of a Levite, the brutal rape of his concubine, and the dismembering of her body into twelve pieces, which were sent to the twelve tribes of Israel by her husband. Several who were asked to read this scripture passage in our teaching hour declined. The one who did consent asked to pray before the text was read rather than afterward as was our custom!

Psalm 109 is a similarly unpleasant passage for many. If classified as movies are today, it would hardly receive a “G” rating. Some psalms are soothing, such as Psalm 23. Others like Psalm 91 are comforting. There are soul-stirring psalms which inspire us to worship and praise such as Psalm 103. Psalm 109 is very troubling to most because it is perhaps the strongest imprecatory¹⁸³ psalm in the psalter. David, the author of the psalm as indicated in the superscription, calls upon God to destroy his enemies in the most horrible ways. According to Perowne, there are no less than 30 anathemas pronounced upon David’s enemies in this one psalm.¹⁸⁴ David not only seeks the punishment of his enemy but also the painful consequences brought on his family: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children wander about and beg; and let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes” (vv. 9-10).

The problem we face in Psalm 109 is not restricted to this psalm, however. Other Psalms contain similar prayers for the punishment of evildoers: “Do Thou add iniquity to their iniquity, and may they not come into Thy righteousness. May they be blotted out of the book of life, and may they not be recorded with the righteous” (Ps. 69:27-28).

To some the beauty of Psalm 139 is shattered by these words:

O that Thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God; depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies (Ps. 139:19-22).

In Psalm 137 we find a cry of vengeance against the Babylonians:

Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation.” O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us. How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock (Ps. 137:7-9).

The problem we face in Psalm 109 is one that is far broader than just one passage, or even one book of the Bible. Prayers of imprecation for the destruction of the wicked are to be found throughout the entire Word of God. Moses (the “meekest man on the face of the earth,” Num. 12:3) prayed, “Rise up, O Lord! And let Thine enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Thee flee before Thee” (Num. 10:35).

The prophet Jeremiah spoke stinging words of imprecation which parallel the prayers of David and others in the psalms:

Do give heed to me, O Lord, and listen to what my opponents are saying! Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before Thee to speak good on their behalf, so as to turn away Thy wrath from them. Therefore, give their children over to famine, and deliver them up to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. May an outcry be heard from their houses, when Thou suddenly bringest raiders upon them; for they have dug a pit to capture me and hidden snares for my feet. Yet Thou, O Lord, knowest all their deadly designs against me; do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from Thy sight. But may they be overthrown before Thee; deal with them in the time of Thine anger! (Jer. 18:19-23; cf. also 11:18ff.; 15:15ff.; 20:11ff.).

There are numerous imprecations in the New Testament also, such as that of the saints who were slain for their righteousness:

And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:9-10).

Imprecations such as those found in Psalm 109 have caused some Christians to question the value of the imprecatory prayers of the Bible for New Testament believers:

It is surely a debatable question as to whether the church should retain the whole Psalter in its worship, including these troublesome passages, or whether the Psalter should be censored at those points which seem to be inconsistent with God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. It would be interesting to check the responsive readings included in modern hymnals or books of worship, to see the degree to which the Psalms have been edited for Christian worship.¹⁸⁵

No matter how perplexing the problem of imprecatory psalms may be, we cannot easily dismiss them. Imprecations, as we shall later point out, are also to be found in the New Testament. We know also that “all Scripture is profitable …” (2 Tim. 3:16) and therefore these prayers have a lesson for us to learn. In addition we must remember that all the psalms were recorded and preserved for public worship. The imprecatory psalms were not merely the passionate pleas of one man (spiritually or carnally motivated), but were rather a pattern for the worship of Israel. Can you imagine coming together to worship and singing a psalm like Psalm 109? Because ancient Israel did so, we must look very carefully at this passage to learn its message to us.

This lesson is intended to accomplish two purposes. We will seek to understand the message of Psalm 109, both as it related to the saints of old and as it applies to men today. In addition this psalm will be used to address the broader subject of imprecatory prayers. We will strive to understand the purpose of such prayers, and the principles which underly them, that apply equally to the saints today. Because of this two-fold purpose, our exposition of Psalm 109 will be more general to allow space for addressing the broader issues involved. Let us look first to the God to whom these prayers were addressed and His Spirit who inspired them, and then to the text itself for His message to us. May we not quickly disregard the stern warning of this psalm.

David’s Indictment of His Enemies:
His Innocence and Their Iniquity
(109: 1-5)

1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. O God of my praise, Do not be silent! 2 For they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without cause. 4 In return for my love they act as my accusers; But I am in prayer. 5 Thus they have repaid me evil for good, And hatred for my love. (NASB)

Verses 1-5 are crucial, not only to this psalm, but to our understanding of imprecation. In this introductory section David makes two claims: (1) his innocence and (2) the iniquity of his enemies. The God who is the object of his praise (v. 1; cf. also Deut. 10:21; Jer. 17:14) is also the One who receives his petitions. David’s plea that God not remain silent in verse 1b is a cry for help, as elsewhere (cf. Ps. 28:1; 35:22; 83:1). The basis for David’s petition is then given in verses 2-5. David is accused by his enemies but is innocent of their charges. He has done good to his enemies, which they have repaid with evil.

I believe that verses 1-5 are crucial to a correct understanding of imprecatory prayers because they inform us about the prerequisites for imprecation. The requirements are rigorous for those who would thus pray. Likewise, those who are worthy of divine wrath are carefully defined. Only the innocent dare pray as David does, and only the wicked need fear the fate which David petitions God to execute.

Let us first consider the innocence of David, which qualifies him to pray as he does. David is, first and foremost, a worshipper of God. He dares not petition his God apart from being a man given to the praise of God (v. 1). While the accusations against David by his enemies are many, they are without basis (cf. Ps. 69:4). He not only has refrained from evil toward the wicked, he has done them nothing but good (v. 5; cf. Ps. 35:12). They hate, but he loves (v. 5). They accuse him, but he prays (for them, it would seem, v. 4).¹⁸⁶ The underlying assumption is that David is suffering, not for his sin, but “for righteousness sake”:

Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach; dishonor has covered my face. I have become estranged from my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for Thy house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach Thee have fallen on me (Ps. 69:7-9).

David does not claim to be sinless here, but he is a worshipper whose heart is right before God.¹⁸⁷ Often in the psalms David confesses his own sins: “For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin” (Ps. 38:18). “O God, it is Thou who dost know my folly, and my wrongs are not hidden from Thee” (Ps. 69:5; cf. 32:5; 51:5). If he has sinned, David asks God to deal with him accordingly:

O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to my friend, or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; and let him trample my life down to the ground, and lay my glory in the dust (Ps. 7:3-5).

In Psalm 139 while David prayed that God would “slay the wicked” (v. 19), he immediately opens his own heart to God, so that he may have his sins exposed and cleansed: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Ps. 139:23-24).

David makes his petition to God as one who is dependent on Him for righteousness (cf. Ps. 130:3-8; 143:2). While he is not entirely free from sin, he is right with God by His grace, and he is righteous with regard to the charges of his opponents.

No one dare implore God to act as David does in Psalm 109 unless he himself is innocent in the sense that David was: innocent of the charges of the wicked, and in right standing before God. Let those who would pray for the destruction of their enemies be as quick as David to have God search their own hearts and to deal with them in justice, just as they would have Him judge their enemies. Imprecatory prayers must only be made by the righteous.

Second, let us give due consideration to the wickedness of David’s enemies, which made them worthy of God’s wrath. In Psalm 109 the sin of David’s enemies is expressed almost entirely in terms of the wrongs they have committed against him.¹⁸⁸ Elsewhere, however, it is shown that how the wicked treat the righteous is symptomatic of their rebellion against God (cf. Ps. 37:12; 139:19-20).

The nature of the sin of the wicked against David is especially informative. The primary instrument of evil is the tongue of the wicked. They have “opened the wicked and deceitful mouth” and spoken with “a lying tongue” (v. 2). They have surrounded the psalmist with “words” (v. 3) and have “accused” him of wrongdoing (v. 4). I believe that Derek Kidner has best captured the essence of this evil by the title, “The Character-Assassin.”¹⁸⁹

In most churches there is some kind of written or understood list of sins which its members are forbidden to commit. For some it may be smoking, drinking, dancing, going to movies, cursing, or perhaps (though less frequently) immorality. I am not trying to challenge here any of the items which may be on your particular list (though they made need challenging!). What I want to stress is how seldom the sin of backbiting is included in those lists. In fact, we have developed very subtle and spiritual-sounding means of committing the sin of character assassination. We “share” the problems of others as prayer requests. This sounds so pious, but frequently it is simply gossip by another label. Let us learn from this psalm that the most severe judgment is called down (and rightly so) upon the sin of character-assassination.

Two lessons should be learned from verses 1-5 concerning those against whom imprecations are made: (1) The imprecations which God hears are those which are made by those who have clean hands and a clean heart. Imprecations are effective only when we see sin as God does and when we ask Him to deal with sin as He has promised to deal with it in His Word. (2) Those against whom imprecations are effective are those who are truly wicked, those who are not just our enemies, but God’s enemies. Psalm 109 is vastly different from a “voodoo” curse. Imprecations are prayers for the punishment of the wicked. While the psalmist is innocent, his enemies are not. This is the basis for his petition for the punishment of the wicked. We are taught in Proverbs that a curse without basis has no effect: “Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight” (Prov. 26:2).

Let us not leave these introductory verses without learning that those who would pray a prayer similar to David’s must be like David—they must be those who praise God (not just petition Him), and those who are right before God and men. Those who seek God’s wrath on the guilty should be innocent. Imprecations are only effective against the guilty. In this context and many others, their guilt is the offense of the tongue. God takes our words seriously, and so should we.

A brief word should be said about the identity of the wicked. They apparently were closely associated with David. According to verse 5, they had been the recipients of David’s love, which they had spurned and showed him hatred instead. Examples of David’s enemies include Doeg the Edomite (Ps. 52:1; 1 Sam. 21:7), Shimei (2 Sam. 16:5-8), and Saul (1 Sam. 18–31).¹⁹⁰ While it is tempting to try to identify the name of the culprit, it seems obvious that the psalmist did not intend for us to know the individual’s identity. There are good reasons for this. First, the psalmist is committing the wicked to God’s judgment, not man’s. Why should he name the individual when God knew who it was? David, unlike his enemies, was not willing to engage in character-assassination. Secondly, David may have wanted his readers to give more thought to the one behind all accusation, Satan.¹⁹¹ Since the Hebrew word rendered “accuser” is translated satan, Satan’s role may well be indicated. We will return to this subject below.

Third, since the psalms were intended for general use, David did not identify his enemies so that the righteous could supply the names of their adversaries, so to speak.¹⁹²

David’s Imprecation Against His Enemies
(109:6-20)

6 Appoint a wicked man over him; And let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7 When he is judged, let him come forth guilty; And let his prayer become sin. 8 Let his days be few; Let another take his office. 9 Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. 10 Let his children wander about and beg; And let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes. 11 Let the creditor seize all that he has; And let strangers plunder the product of his labor. 12 Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children. 13 Let his posterity be cut off; In a following generation let their name be blotted out.

14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. 15 Let them be before the LORD continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth; 16 Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, But persecuted the afflicted and needy man, And the despondent in heart, to put them to death. 17 He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. 18 But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, And it entered into his body like water, And like oil into his bones. 19 Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, And for a belt with which he constantly girds himself. 20 Let this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, And of those who speak evil against my soul. (NASB)

Verses 1-5 are the basis of David’s imprecation. David is innocent, yet his enemies have accused him of wrong-doing. They have engaged in character-assassination. David appeals to God, the object of his praise and adoration, to come to his rescue and to punish his wicked opponents. Verses 6-20 spell out the form which David believes this punishment should take. David’s imprecation is certainly fierce and forthright, but I believe that it is not excessive. The details of David’s imprecation and its doctrinal basis will be the primary aim of our study of these verses.

There is a change in the reference to David’s enemies in the plural (vv. 1-5) to that of the singular in the following verses (vv. 6ff.). The most plausible explanation is that David is moving from the general to the specific. In verses 1-5 his enemies are described as a group, but in verse 6 and following the punishment for which David prays is viewed as occurring individually. Some have suggested that the person singled out in these verses is the leader of David’s opposition.¹⁹³

Verses 6-13 concentrate on the consequences for sin which are sought both for the man and his family. David asks that a wicked man be set over his foe and that an adversary accuse him (v. 6). If Saul were the enemy in mind, the punishment would simply be to receive in return what he had meted out to David. Let those who oppress those under them taste what it is like to have an evil man over them. Verse 7 seeks a verdict of “guilty” when his enemy is brought to court. David asks God to look upon the prayers of his enemies as sin (v. 7b). David can pray thus because it is consistent with the teaching of the Old Testament that the prayers (and indeed all religious acts) of the wicked are an abomination to God (cf. Prov. 28:9; Isa. 1:15).

Verses 8 and 9 petition God to shorten the life of David’s enemy. This is expressed in a variety of poetic terms. The days of his enemy should be few. His untimely death will require another to take his office (v. 8). It is this verse, you will recall, that was applied to Judas, the betrayer of our Lord, prompting the disciples of our Lord to choose a replacement for Judas among them (cf. Acts 1:20). The death of David’s foe would make his wife a widow and his children orphans (v. 9).

While it may seem unnecessarily severe for David to pray for his enemy’s untimely death and for his family to suffer for his sins, David’s petition is based upon the principles and practices of the Old Testament. God said that the sins of the fathers would be visited on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate God (Exod. 20:5; Deut. 5:9). Also in the Law of Moses God warned that certain sins would bring consequences on the families of the sinner:

“You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless” (Exod. 22:22-24).

This same principle was expressed in the Book of Proverbs:

The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous (Prov. 3:33).

He who returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house (Prov. 17:13).

Proverbs 17:13 is especially relevant to David’s imprecations in Psalm 109 because it speaks of the penalty borne by those who return evil for good, precisely the sin of David’s foes (Ps. 109:5; cf. 35:12; 38:20). In addition, it warns that the consequences for sin fall on the house of the wicked, not just the individual.

What God taught in principle, He also practiced. God commanded the Israelites to destroy all the Canaanites, including their children (Deut. 20:16-18; Josh. 6:17,21). In response to the rebellion of Korah, God destroyed Korah, Dathan and Abiram, along with their wives, their children, their cattle, and their possessions (Num. 16, cf. esp. vv. 27, 31-33). A man’s sins not only have dire consequences for him personally; they also adversely affect his family (cf. also 1 Sam. 2:30-32).

David further prays for the financial ruin (vv. 10-11) and the family extinction (vv. 12-13) of his enemy. God’s blessing included both material gains and a posterity to benefit from the prosperity He gave (cf. Deut. 28:1-14). However, disobedience was to certainly bring about just the opposite result (Deut. 28:15-68). In praying for the financial ruin of his enemies and their family extinction, David was requesting God to act in accordance with the Mosaic covenant.

David, like the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 18:20-21), cried out to God, petitioning God to do what He had promised. David’s petition may seem harsh to us, but it is no more severe than what God taught and what He personally practiced in dealing with the wicked. Incidentally, the Israelites did not seem to think God’s principles and promises were unreasonable when it came to national blessings, nor when the curses were directed toward their enemies. David’s imprecations in verses 6-13, including the suffering of his enemy’s family, are based upon biblical principles and promises.¹⁹⁴

In verses 14-20 David continues to seek the punishment of his foes, but his petition is based upon a slightly different argument. David requested retribution for his enemies.¹⁹⁵ Retribution is simply getting what you give. Justice was based on the principle of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” (Exod. 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21). Jesus reminded His hearers that this principle was never intended to encourage revenge, but was a principle governing judgment to be applied by the judges of Israel (cf. Matt. 5:38-42). David does not himself seek revenge, but he requests God to apply the principle of retribution to his foes. He asks simply that God return on the wicked what they meted out to others, and what they therefore deserve.

Rather than show his adversaries mercy, let God deal with them in the light of their own sins, as well as those of their fathers (vv. 14-15). After all, the sins of the fathers are visited on the children who hate God (Deut. 5:9). The wicked whom David wishes to see punished are those who have shown no mercy to others, but have instead persecuted the afflicted and needy man, even putting him to death (v. 16). They therefore deserve God’s retributive judgment. The merciless should receive no mercy (Prov. 21:13; cf. Matt. 5:7; James 2:13).

Since the wicked love to curse, let cursing come to them (v. 17a). They withheld blessing, so blessings should be withheld from them (v. 17b). Cursing was like a garment to the wicked (v. 18a), so let it become his only clothing (vv. 18b-19). Let all who would accuse David stand accused before God (v. 20). David has thus asked no more than for God to do as He has promised and as the wicked deserve.

David’s Request for Relief
(109:21-29)

21 But Thou, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for Thy name’s sake; Because Thy lovingkindness is good, deliver me; 22 For I am afflicted and needy, And my heart is wounded within me. 23 I am passing like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like the locust. 24 My knees are weak from fasting; And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness. 25 I also have become a reproach to them; When they see me, they wag their head.

26 Help me, O LORD my God; Save me according to Thy lovingkindness. 27 And let them know that this is Thy hand; Thou, LORD, hast done it. 28 Let them curse, but do Thou bless; When they arise, they shall be ashamed, But Thy servant shall be glad. 29 Let my accusers be clothed with dishonor, And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe. (NASB)

While God is a God of wrath, He is also a God of mercy. As the apostle Paul put it, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God” (Rom. 11:22). In the previous verses (6-20) David has made an imprecation against his enemies. The imprecation was based upon the promises of God and upon the evil practices of those who opposed David. David therefore pled with God to give men what they deserved. Now David appeals to God to deal graciously with him on the basis of God’s character and David’s pitiable condition. Not only did David ask justice for his foes, he now asks mercy for himself.

David’s petition is for God’s grace. It is rightly based on several truths concerning God’s character. First, God is a God who is characterized by “lovingkindness” (vv. 21,26). When David asks God to deal kindly with him for His name’s sake (v. 21), he means that since God is full of lovingkindness He can be called upon to be true to His character in showing mercy and kindness to His children. Secondly, God’s lovingkindness causes Him to be especially touched by the pitiable condition of those who trust in Him and are afflicted. Many of the Psalms reflect this aspect of God’s compassion for the “afflicted and needy” (v. 22), and appeal is often made to God based upon His concern for those in such straits:

When they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, misery, and sorrow, He pours contempt upon princes, and makes them wander in a pathless waste. But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction, and makes his families like a flock. The upright see it, and are glad; but all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things; and consider the lovingkindnesses of the Lord (Ps. 107:39-43).

I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor (Ps. 140:12).

The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground (Ps. 147:6; cf. also 12:5; 18:27; 35:10; 69:33; 72:4).

Verses 23-25 move from the wounded spirit (v. 22) of the psalmist to his pathetic physical condition, which is a result of oppression at the hand of his enemies. Apparently as skinny as a shadow (v. 23), the psalmist also describes himself as one who is brushed aside as worthless, like a locust is shaken from a garment. His knees are weak from fasting and his body is lean. Rather than inspire pity from his accusers, they despise him and wag their heads in contempt (v. 25). The inference seems to be that they have chosen to interpret David’s suffering as the evidence of his sin, just as Job’s friends reasoned about his condition. A God whose very nature is to take pity on the afflicted can certainly be expected to hear the plea of the psalmist, since he is spiritually and physically miserable.

Verses 26-29 appeal to God for help on the basis of God’s lovingkindness (v. 26) and the fact that the deliverance of David will prove that God’s hand is on him to bless him, not to punish him (vv. 27-29). If the enemies of David have appealed to his suffering as the proof of his guilt, then let God come to his rescue and lift him up. This would show them that God has acted in his behalf. Because they have cursed David, they will be put to shame if God blesses him (v. 28). God’s blessing in David’s life will give him honor and make him glad, but it will reveal that the wicked have covered themselves with shame for their treatment of him (v. 29).

David’s Promise of Praise
(109:30-31)

30 With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the LORD; And in the midst of many I will praise Him. 31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy, To save him from those who judge his soul. (NASB)

A final reason is given for God’s intervening on David’s behalf. Since God is the “God of David’s praise” (v. 1), He knows that the punishment of David’s enemies and the rescue of the psalmist will result in praise. Verses 30 and 31 are David’s vow of praise. He will praise God for His deliverance in the midst of the congregation (v. 30). The basis for this praise is the psalmist’s experience of seeing God stand at his right hand to defend. The accusers will finally be silenced when God reveals Himself as David’s defender.

Conclusion

It is true, I suspect, that Perowne is correct when he writes, “In the awfulness of its anathemas, the Psalm [109] surpasses everything of the kind in the Old Testament.”¹⁹⁶ Because of its fierceness, some scholars such as Kittel have gone so far as to speak of this psalm as containing “… utterly repulsive maledictions inspired by the wildest form of vengeance, which make this one of the most questionable hymns of cursing.”¹⁹⁷ Kittel therefore ascribes all of the psalm to “carnal passion that is utterly inexcusable.”¹⁹⁸

Others like Cross have questioned the value of such psalms for public worship:

We question the worth for Christian worship of such Psalms as express a spirit of vindictiveness. Christianity is meekness, gentleness, peace. Even the wicked should be regarded as objects of redemptive search. … The spirit of Jesus spoke of forgiveness even upon those who did him to death. As long as we retain in Christian worship material which breathes a spirit of aggression, self-assertion and vengeance, we are contradicting our faith. We cannot hope thus to make our doctrine clear to the world. With such contradictory elements in our worship, we shall not be surprised that the spread of Christianity is slow. We may well wonder that it propagates at all.¹⁹⁹

Kidner has stated the problem more conservatively:

The sudden transitions in the psalms from humble devotion to fiery imprecation create an embarrassing problem for the Christian, who is assured that all Scripture is inspired and profitable, but equally that he himself is to bless those who curse him.²⁰⁰

The problems which the imprecatory psalms have raised for the Christian have been answered by a variety of explanations, most of which seem inadequate or inaccurate.²⁰¹ Before we become too critical of the psalmist and this type of psalm, let us make several observations which must be taken into account.

(1) We are all armchair theologians who have not walked in the shoes of the psalmist. It is easy for those who have not lived through the hellish experiences of saints who have suffered greatly for their faith to be critical of such imprecations. Let us not be quick to criticize those who have tasted the kind of opposition and oppression which David did. Let us learn from the severity of the David’s imprecations the intensity and the cruelty of his adversaries.

(2) The Old Testament saint had a dim picture of the afterlife, thus he was less informed concerning the judgment which will occur after death both for the saved (2 Cor. 5:10) and the unsaved (Rev. 20:12-15). Therefore the Old Testament believer would have been particularly eager to see God deal with the wicked in this life. Consequently a greater urgency is to be expected on the part of the psalmist.

(3) Whatever problems we may have with the imprecations of the Old Testament, the tension between justice and mercy, love and hate, is not a matter of law versus grace or Old Testament versus New Testament. The Old and New Testaments teach the same truths. For instance, the New Testament has much to say about judgment, justice and condemnation. Conversely, the Old Testament teaches us to love our neighbor and not to seek vengeance. In fact, when Paul instructs Christians not to take revenge (Rom. 12:17-21), he uses an Old Testament passage from the Book of Deuteronomy as his proof-text (Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35), as well as a quotation from Proverbs 25:21ff. (Rom. 12:20). When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount he was not teaching a new law, but was reiterating what the law had always taught. The Jewish religious system had set aside this law, replacing the truth with their own traditions.

(4) The psalms are not hastily scribbled personal vendettas, but carefully penned poetry. The indignation is not that of a quick, volatile explosion but that of a smoldering fire. You will remember that God is not without anger, but rather “slow to anger” (cf. Exod. 34:6; Num. 14:18; Ps. 86:15).

(5) The psalmist claims to be “spiritual” in his petition that God take vengeance on his enemies. Either the psalmist is self-deceived, a hypocrite or a liar.

(6) Every petition for justice and divine retribution is based upon biblical principles, precepts and practices. The psalmist pleads with God to act on the basis of His character (just and righteous), His covenant promises (e.g. Deut. 28), His conduct (e.g., in the destruction of Korah and his entire family, Num. 16).

(7) It is perhaps incorrect to refer to any psalm as an “imprecatory psalm” for the simple reason that while imprecation is a part of the psalm, it is not the whole of it. We are thus judging the whole by one part. Judgment is one theme, one aspect of God’s dealings with men, but not the whole. As Paul put it, let us consider “the goodness and the severity of God” (Rom. 11:22).

(8) When David or any other biblical character prays an imprecation, you will observe that the matter is left entirely with God. Godly men and women prayed to God about their enemies, and they specified (on the basis of God’s word) what they felt should happen to them. Yet they committed the wicked to God to deal with according to His word, in His time and in His own way. I personally believe that just as God’s prophecies left room for repentance and salvation (e.g. Jer. 18:5-10; cp. Jon. 3:8-10), so the very severity with which the psalmist spoke may have shocked some of the wicked into facing the seriousness of their sin and turning them to repentance.

(9) While the prayers of David are severe, his personal actions toward his enemies was gracious and kind. Suppose for a moment that Saul might have been the subject of Psalm 109. Saul deserved everything for which David prayed. Saul also received much for which David prayed. Yet David absolutely refused to take personal revenge, even when he had the opportunity. When he had the chance to kill Saul, he cut off a piece of his robe instead (1 Sam. 24:1-8)—later he was conscience-stricken for the spirit which had prompted this act (v. 5). David may have prayed fiercely, but his actions were absolutely gracious and kind.

(10) The church discipline of the New Testament is not really that different from the imprecatory psalms of the Old Testament. The New Testament also contains curses. Paul cursed Elymas for resisting the gospel (Acts 13:6-11) and damned any who would pervert it (Gal. 1:8-9). Peter pronounced sentence on Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). Paul delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan (1 Tim. 1:20) as he did the man living with his father’s wife (1 Cor. 5:5). I personally believe that the final step of church discipline involves turning the sinner over to Satan (under God’s sovereign control, cf. Matt. 18:17-20) so that he may be severely chastened, with the goal of his repentance and restoration (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 2:5-11).

All of the above observations lead me to the conclusion that the imprecatory psalms are far more relevant and applicable to Christians today than we would like to admit. Why then are we so uneasy about them? Essentially I think the answer is that we have a distorted view of God, perverted by our own sin. We want to think of God only in terms of love and mercy, but not in terms of justice and judgment. We are soft on sin. I think we have become entangled in a satanic conspiracy. We have adopted the thinking summarized by the expression, “I’m O.K., You’re O.K.” If you will pardon me for doing so, I could entitle Psalm 109, “I’m O.K., but You’re Not.” Such was the conviction of the psalmist. Most of us know that we are not O.K. Therefore we respond by going easy on others, hoping our laxity will make things easier on us. Let me tell you that if we had the courage and the conviction to pray as David did, we would be very ill at ease in regard to our own sins. Our greatest problem with imprecatory psalms is that the psalmist takes sin much more seriously than we do.

You may wish to challenge me by stressing that while we must hate sin, we should not hate the sinner. We want to think that God hates the sin, but He loves the sinner. I must ask you then, why does God send men to hell? Why isn’t hell a terrible place of torment for Satan and his angels and sin? Why is hell a place where people go? I don’t think it is as possible as we think to separate the sin from the sinner. This is not the solution to our problem.

I believe that in David’s case his enemies were God’s enemies whom God hated (cf. Rom. 9:13—in some sense, at least, God “hated” Esau). The solution was not to separate the sin and the sinner, but to commit both to God. This freed David from personal vengeance, enabling him to “love his enemies” (cf. Ps. 109:5) and treat them with kindness (as David did to Saul, Shimei, and the rest of his enemies). Let us not strive so hard to separate the sin from the sinner as to separate the sin from our attitudes and actions toward the sinner. I believe that David responded as he did to his enemies because he was a “man after God’s own heart.” Our problem is that we look at sin and sinners more from a human viewpoint than from the divine.

The amazing thing is that when we strive to conjure up human feelings of love and forgiveness, we really can’t love or forgive our enemies. The best we can do is to suppress our feelings of anger and hostility. When the psalmist prayed as he did in Psalm 109, he admitted his feelings and his desires (which were in accordance with God’s character and His covenant with men). He was thereby relieved of his hostility by committing the destiny of the wicked to God. Punishment and vengeance belong to God. By giving up vengeance we free ourselves to love and to forgive in a way that we cannot produce in and of ourselves.

Let us learn from the imprecatory psalms that a hard stand on sin is the best way to prevent sin. Let me tell you it must have been some experience to gather as a congregation in days of old and sing Psalm 109. Remember, the psalm was written for public worship. To sing its words was to remind the saints how the godly should respond to sin. In so doing each individual was reminded of the seriousness of sin and the dire consequences which accompany it. To be soft on sin is to give it a greenhouse in which to grow. To be hard on sin is to hinder its growth, not only in the lives of others but in our own as well.

My friend, the beautiful message of the Gospel is that the vengeance for which the psalmist prayed need not fall upon you. Jesus Christ came to the earth to take upon Himself our sins and our punishment. God placed upon His Son the punishment which David petitioned God to bring upon his enemies. No one who places his trust in the solution to sin—the Savior, Jesus Christ—need suffer the consequences of sin. It is only those who resist and reject God’s solution who suffer His temporal and eternal wrath. The psalmist who prayed for God’s justice for his enemies also petitioned God for His mercy and lovingkindness. God offers mercy and forgiveness to all, but He also promises justice and judgment to all who reject His Son. I encourage you to place your trust in Jesus Christ, the sin-bearer who died in your place and suffered even more than Psalm 109 describes.

183 In a more secular sense an imprecation is a curse on one’s enemies. In religious terms an imprecation is a prayer for evil or misfortune to befall another. In the Bible an imprecatory prayer is the prayer of a righteous man petitioning God to carry out justice by bringing punishment or destruction upon evildoers, especially those who have mistreated him.

184 J. J. Stewart Perowne, The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: Zondervan [reprint], 1976), I, p. 305.

185 Bernhard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1974), pp. 61-62. Anderson’s words here do not reflect his position, but are intended to bring the problem of the imprecatory prayers of the Bible into focus. His comments on the imprecatory psalms (pp. 60-67) are excellent.

186 In Psalm 35 David illustrates the wickedness of his enemies by contrasting his mercy with their cruelty. When they were afflicted, he fasted and prayed for them (vv. 13-14), but when he was afflicted they rejoiced, smiting and slandering him (vv. 15-16).

187 In the introduction to his commentary on the Psalms, Kirkpatrick addresses the subject of the innocence of the psalmists: “Some of these utterances are no more than asseverations that the speaker is innocent of particular crimes laid to his charge by his enemies (vii. 3ff.); others are general professions of purity of purpose and single-hearted devotion to God (xvii. 1ff.). They are not to be compared with the self-complacency of the Pharisee, who prides himself on his superiority to the rest of the world, but with St Paul’s assertions of conscious rectitude (Acts xx. 26ff.; xxii. 1). They breathe the spirit of simple faith and childlike trust, which throws itself unreservedly on God. Those who make them do not profess to be absolutely sinless, but they do claim to belong to the class of the righteous who may expect God’s favour, and they do disclaim all fellowship with the wicked, from whom they expect to be distinguished in the course of His Providence.” A. F. Kirkpatrick, The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House [reprint], 1982), p. lxxxvii.

188 Even in verse 16 it would seem that the “afflicted and needy man” is really the psalmist himself.

189 Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150 (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1975), p. 388.

190 Perowne refers his readers to an article by Rev. Joseph Hammond entitled “An Apology for the Vindictive Psalm,” contained in the Expositor, vol. ii. pp. 225-360, in which that writer attempts (convincingly, in Perowne’s mind) to show that Shimei is the one referred to in Psalm 109. Cf. Perowne, II, pp. 287-288.

191 “The word accuser, or adversary (satan), is prominent in the psalm, coming again in verses 20 and 29, while the corresponding verb has already appeared in verse 4. In those verses he is the enemy’s man; so this prayer wishes the enemy a taste of his own medicine. It is the word, incidentally, from which Satan derives his title and name, since he presses the case against the righteous with relish and with every artifice (cf. Jb. 1:6ff.; 2:1ff.; Rev. 12:10). In Zechariah 3:1 he is seen standing at the right hand of the man on trial, as the accuser does here …” Kidner, Psalms 73-150, pp. 389-390.

192 After surveying the possibilities for identifying the “enemies” referred to in the imprecatory psalms, Anderson has some excellent concluding remarks: “None of these interpretations is completely satisfactory. The plain truth is that we really do not know who the enemies were, for the psalmist expresses his distress in stylized language which had been employed for centuries in cultic situations. … This explains why the enemies in the individual laments are so faceless, and it also helps to account for the fact that these psalms are usable by many different people in times of trouble. The psalmist does not talk boringly about the details of his personal situation (like the proverbial person who inflicts the story of his operation on his friends); he does not turn introspectively to his own inner life. Rather, by using conventional language he affirms that his situation is typical of every man who struggles with the meaning of his life in the concrete situations of tension, hostility, and conflict. That is why these psalms have been used down through the centuries by suppliants who cry to God out of their concrete situation. They seem to leave a blank, as it were, for the insertion of your own personal name.” Bernhard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths, p. 60.

193 “The singular (‘over him’ &c.), which now takes the place of the plural, may be collective, the Psalmist’s enemies being regarded as a whole; or distributive, each one of the mass being singled out: but more probably it fastens upon the leader of the gang (v. 2) upon whom rests the real guilt. Cp. for the sudden transition lv. 12ff., 20ff.” Kirkpatrick, The Book of Psalms, p. 655.

194 Even in the New Testament the children of the wicked are said to suffer for the sins of their fathers, cf. Luke 19:41-44, esp. v. 44.

195 Derek Kidner says of verses 17-20: “The terrible logic of judgment, whereby what a man chooses he ultimately and totally receives, and indeed absorbs and is enfolded in, is expressed nowhere else with quite this vivid intensity.” Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 390.

196 Perowne, II, pp. 285-286.

197 Kittel, as quoted by Leupold, p. 763.

198 Ibid.

199 A quote by Earle Bennett Cross, Modern Worship and the Psalter (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1932), p. 29, as cited by Rupe Simms in an unpublished article entitled, “The Imprecatory Literature of the Psalms: A Study in Moral, Biblical and Theological Tensions.”

200 Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72 (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), pp. 25-26.

201 There are many explanations for the “severity” of the imprecatory psalms. Some of the most frequently used are: (1) David didn’t write Psalm 109. (2) David wrote this psalm but in a carnal state of mind (cf. Kittel, above, fn. 16). (3) The words of this psalm are not a wish, but a prophecy. (David is not praying that these terrible things will happen to his enemies, only prophesying that they will be punished for their wickedness.) (4) The words of verses 6-20 are actually the words of David’s enemies, which David quotes as evidence of their evil attacks against him. (5) The expressions used are poetic and figurative, and not to be taken literally. (6) The “enemies” David prays against are not his personal enemies, but spiritual forces (e.g. Ephesians 6:10-12ff.) against whom such prayers are justified. (7) The prayers of Psalm 109 and other imprecatory psalms were correct for a saint who lived in the dispensation of the Law, but are not appropriate for those living in the Age of Grace: “… whilst we need not suppose that the indignation which burns so hotly is other than a righteous indignation, yet that we are to regard it as permitted under the Old Testament rather than justifiable under the New. Surely there is nothing in such an explanation which in the smallest degree impugns the Divine authority of the earlier Scriptures. In how many respects have the harsher outlines of the legal economy been softened down by “the mind that was in Christ Jesus.” … As in the Sermon on the Mount He substitutes the moral principle for the legal enactment, so here He substitutes the spirit of gentleness, meekness, endurance of wrongs, for the spirit of fiery though righteous indignation. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New, but it is inferior to it.” Perowne, I, p. 64.

For a study of imprecatory psalms and a fuller explanation of the views mentioned above (and others) consult: Bernard Anderson, Out of the Depths, pp. 58-66; Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, pp. 25-32; Leupold, Psalms, pp. 18-20; 763-765; J. B. Payne, “The Book of Psalms,” The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975, 1976), vol. 4, pp. 938-939; Perowne, The Book of Psalms, I, pp. 62-65; 305-306; 541-544.

Kenyan Christian

Pages

Thursday, October 23, 2014

GTY Mobile

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

QUESTION: "IS PLEADING THE BLOOD OF JESUS BIBLICAL?"

Thursday, September 26, 2013

SATAN OPPOSSES GOD'S WORD

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

DOES GOD ANSWER THE PRAYERS OF UNBELIEVERS

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Monday, August 12, 2013

QUESTION: "WHAT IS PRAYING IN TONGUES? IS PRAYING IN TONGUES A PRAYER LANGUAGE BETWEEN A BELIEVER AND GOD?"

QUESTION: "WHAT IS PROPHETIC PRAYER?"

Thursday, May 23, 2013

AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH: CHARISMATICS AND ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

QUESTION: "WHAT IS SOAKING PRAYER?"

Monday, May 20, 2013

QUESTION: "WHAT IS PROPHETIC PRAYER?"

Thursday, November 29, 2012

QUESTION : " WHAT IS PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT ? "

Monday, November 26, 2012

THANKSGIVING 365 ; ~ PROVERBS 15:16-17 ~

I. Fill Your Heart With Faith.

Wealth is a Relative Term

II. Fill Your Home With Love.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Thanksgiving is a Choice

Friday, October 12, 2012

PSALM 109 : A PRAYER FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED

Introduction

David’s Indictment of His Enemies:
His Innocence and Their Iniquity
(109: 1-5)

David’s Imprecation Against His Enemies
(109:6-20)

David’s Request for Relief
(109:21-29)

David’s Promise of Praise
(109:30-31)

Conclusion

Pages

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

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Monday, August 12, 2013

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Related Resources (free):

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Monday, May 20, 2013

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Monday, November 26, 2012

I. Fill Your Heart With Faith.

Wealth is a Relative Term

II. Fill Your Home With Love.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Thanksgiving is a Choice

Friday, October 12, 2012

Introduction

David’s Indictment of His Enemies: His Innocence and Their Iniquity (109: 1-5)

David’s Imprecation Against His Enemies (109:6-20)

David’s Request for Relief (109:21-29)

David’s Promise of Praise (109:30-31)

Conclusion

David’s Indictment of His Enemies:
His Innocence and Their Iniquity
(109: 1-5)

David’s Imprecation Against His Enemies
(109:6-20)

David’s Request for Relief
(109:21-29)

David’s Promise of Praise
(109:30-31)