”Your almighty hands have captured your foes. You uncovered all who hate you and you seized them. When you appear before them, unveiling the radiance of your face, they will be consumed by the fierce fire of your presence. Yahweh’s flames will swallow them up. They and their descendants will be destroyed by an unrelenting fire. We will watch them fail, for these are the ones who plan their evil schemes against the Lord. They will turn and run at the sight of your judgment-arrows aimed straight at their hearts. Rise up and put your might on display! By your strength we will sing and praise your glorious power!“
These are the kinds of Psalms that don’t get many sermons preached about them. The modern church shies away from these kinds of Psalms. The theological term for them is imprecatory prayers. And King David was famous for these. All throughout the Psalms, we find David praying for the Lord to come and deal with his enemies, to bring justice to those who are evil. These kinds of prayers are a necessary exercise if we want to see true justice. We can’t just talk about all the good things we would like to see the Lord do. We need to call on the Lord - acknowledging that the foundations of His throne are righteousness and justice. And we need to ask Him to deal with those who are wicked, those who have made themselves His enemies and the enemies of His people.
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