Today's Meditation
Read Psalm 5
1Give ear to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing.
2Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
4For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil will not sojourn with you.
5The boastful will not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
6You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.
7But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house, I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.
8Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.
9For there is no truth in their mouths; their hearts are destruction; their throats are open graves; they flatter with their tongues.
10Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of their many transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.
11But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, so that those who love your name may exult in you.
12For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover them with favor as with a shield.
A long while ago someone asked me if I thought it was okay if they prayed for their enemies. I said, "Of course, I think we should pray for everyone." The person then said, "No, I mean, is it okay for me to pray that bad things happen to my enemies?" Oh! I had a hard time with that one, especially since it is so clearly in evidence quite often in the psalms.
Well, here's my short answer to that. While the psalms give evidence that the writer/s often prayed for vindication and for destruction of their enemies, they do not give much indication that God directly listened to those prayers. Yes, God does justice and brings about justice against those who thwart it, but not necessarily as a direct response to our prayers about harming other human beings. Other scripture passages would lead us to believe that God wants us to concentrate on goodness and mercy, not punishment and retribution.
"Vengeance is mine. I will repay.", says the Lord in Romans 12:19. The author of Romans go on to say in verses 20 and 21, "No, if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
So, is it wrong for us to pray that bad things happen to our enemies? God listens to our hearts. God knows that we are in pain if an enemy betrays us or hurts us. God knows that justice can/will/should be served. Is it ours to do? No! Is it ours to ask? Maybe. BUT, here's the problem with that. Our prayers are not magic wands that get God to do what we ask of God. They are ways that we communicate with God, to better understand our relationship with God and to understand God's will for our lives. It's ok to let God know how you feel, there is nothing wrong with being open and honest about those feelings (remember we've been working through Job!) God's will for us, however, is to overcome evil with good. If we spend too much time on thinking about revenge, hatred, destruction, pain of another - we've missed the ultimate lesson of finding grace and mercy.
Who have you been angry with for far too long? How can you pray for them today?
No comments:
Post a Comment