Psalm 34:4-8: Prayers for War: What To Do With the Imprecatory Psalms

Scripture Reading

Psalm 83:1–3, 13-18 O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones…O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind. As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane! Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.”

Opening Comments

What we are going to talk about is unpopular even in churches today.

This is a third rail not just in the world but in the church.

And if you’re visiting here today this sermon might run you off because we don’t play church here.

We believe Christ is King not just in our hearts but of the world and we live like it.

Intro

How do we deal with and counter all the evil of our world?

How do we answer and confront such wickedness?

You have abortions…

Homosexuality…

Transgenderism…

Random Horrific Murders…

Literal political assassinations praised by the Left…

Fatherlessness…

Pornography…

Rampant feminism and the destruction of the family…

Illegal Immigration…

Both the perversion and mutilation of young children…

I mean what can you actually do in the face of such evil?

One answer and one of the primary and greatest weapons we have in this war for the heart and soul of our nation is… Prayer.

But not just any kind of prayer.

This is not some platitude of just pray about it…

What I’m advocating for here is a very specific kind of prayer…

One that most Christians have not been taught and have no idea what to do with in Scripture.

What I’m talking about are imprecatory prayers…

Imprecatory Psalms.

Prayers that call for curses and God’s judgment on our enemies.

I’ll tell you why I’m doing this.

I want you to be equipped with the whole counsel of the Word of God.

And what I’ve seen given recent events and even stretching back the last few years is soft pastors and soft Christians seeing the evil of this world and trying to find some easy… middle way through it.

This silent approach to the evil around us.

Be meek… don’t make waves.

Don’t make political.

Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world.

We Christians need to have grace and not this divide us.

And that’s all true… but the problem is by trying to be nicer than Jesus we actually lose our witness for righteousness.

Meekness is power under control… its not just getting run over.

If we don’t speak out about the evils of our culture, we lose our salt.

And if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet (Matthew 5:13).

My goal is to equip our church to pray for righteousness sake.

How do we balance the Imprecatory Psalms… curses… God bring judgment on the wicked… with the BIble’s teaching But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

Well that’s easy!… I’ll love them by praying curses on them.

No… but how do we do that while still being engaged in the spiritual ware we find ourselves in?

So here’s what we are going to do.

I first need to give you a theology of the imprecatory Psalms.

And then we are going to come back and look at one Psalm… Psalm 5… in particular to apply what we learn.

I. A Theology of Imprecatory Psalms

First of all there are many Psalms that call for curses on God’s enemies.

For God to bring Judgment on the Wicked.

Look at Psalm 35:4-8…

Psalm 35:4–8 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away! Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them! For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction!

The Psalmist prays for the wicked’s destruction.

That His own net would ensnare him.

That he would be driven like chaff before the wind… in other words swept away.

Who Are the Wicked?

Now that brings up a very important question: Who are these Wicked?…

Who are these Enemies the Psalms pray for curses against?

This is where a lot of Christians Get really confused.

Because we were all enemies of God.

We were all wicked and dead in our sins.

But what you need to understand is in the context of the Psalms there are Covenant People and not Covenant People.

God’s People and those that would seek to destroy them.

So these Enemies would be the unrepentant Wicked that…

1. Hate God

2. They Hate the Church…

And number 3. They Hate Righteousness

This is where we need to be really clear because I think most Christians don’t have clear eyes on these things.

When it comes to the imprecatory Psalms our Enemies would be those people who persecute the church… that’s somewhat obvious.

But they are also those that hate righteousness.

People who promote wickedness that destroys a culture and actively build the High Places in that worship the Spirit of the Age.

So its not just persecuting the church… its also turning righteousness upside down.

These would be prophets and priests of the Spirit of the Age saying “Worship here… bow down here… bend the knee here… or lose everything.”

So Enemies are those who 1. Lead astray or Persecute the Church or 2. Build the High Places and turn righteousness upside down.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

So with Enemies we are talking about Enemies of Christ, Enemies of Righteousness, and Enemies of the Church that are actively seeking to destroy light any where they find it.

We’re not just talking about non Christians in general.

What is Persecution?

Now that brings up another thing that many Christians are confused about today…

We’re laying bricks in the road.

I’ve got to lay the foundation for you.

What is persecution?

Most Christians think persecution is only when someone’s holding a gun to your head saying, “Renounce Jesus Christ or I’ll kill you.”

Or they fire you or through you in prison… very specifically for following Jesus.

“We’re doing this because you call yourself a Christian.”

But that is not Jesus’ definition of persecution.

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Righteousness sake.

Persecution also happens… whether they specifically identify it as Christian or not… when you stand up for righteousness… when you stand up for what’s right… for the sake of Christ.

So for example… if you get fired or passed over for a promotion because you don’t want to give into the DEI stuff or you don’t want to support homosexuality because of your faith in Christ… that’s persecution even if your work doesn’t give you a pink slip saying that’s what it is.

Its if your standing up for righteousness sake.

So Charlie Kirk this past week?… Persecution! Because He stood up for righteousness for the sake of His faith in Christ.

Culture Wars

So those who would be our enemies would not just be people that sin against us.

Personal slights and personal sins aren’t really the enemies we are talking about.

Because if that’s the standard what happens when we sin against one another in the Church?

Do we then start praying Imprecatory Psalms against each other.

No… you’ve got to think of enemies as the Cultural Macro of what we are up against.

The Culture Wars.

Those that are absolutely against and antithetical to our doctrine and our way of life for righteousness sake.

How You Can Read Imprecatory Psalms

Think of it like this…

There’s different ways you could read the Imprecatory Psalms (and in some ways this is kind of what you should do every time.

Historically

First of all you could read them Historically.

David had real enemies and you can read them as God’s faithfulness to David to keep Him and preserve Him.

Messianically

Second… you could also read them Messianically.

Let me give you an example… Psalm 69:19–25 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.

Now the Gospels each make it a point to say that on the cross they gave Jesus sour wine to drink (Matthew 27:48, Luke 23:36, John 19:29, Mark 15:23).

So this Psalm is obviously viewed in the New Testament as a Messianic prophecy.

And Christ had enemies.

So we could read this prayers as prayers against the enemies of Christ.

That they would be thwarted and that Christ would be victorious in bringing about Salvation.

That He would conquer and overcome despite all opposition.

Spiritual Enemies

Third… you could read them Spiritually.

Look at Type-Fulfillment type stuff.

Ephesians 6:12 We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places… talking about Satan and Demons.

Its that Armor of God type prayer.

God deliver me and give me victory over my enemies.

Defend your Church against Satan’s schemes.

Cultural Enemies

But I think it would be a mistake to limit these prayers to Spiritual Enemies.

Because these Spiritual Enemies are at work in and manifest themselves in flesh and blood enemies that seek to renounce all righteousness and ultimately destroy the church.

Ephesians 2:1–2… the same book where Paul said We do not wrestle against flesh and blood he said… And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

We are up against real and blatant wickedness.

Our culture has rejected God and everything we are seeing is downstream of that rotten fruit.

Bashing Republicans

Now you’ll get people that say don’t make this political… this isn’t a right or left issue.

And to some degree that’s true.

Listen the Republicans don’t want to submit in everything to God.

They want to have their cake and eat it to.

They want to have the appearance of morality without bending the knee to King Jesus.

And listen we will have to deal with that eventually.

Christ is King… Christ or Chaos!

But make no mistake the Left and the Right is an issue between good and evil… light and darkness… truth and lies.

Satanic

Let me say it plainly and clearly… the ideology behind Left is Satanic.

Literally principalities and powers.

Now I know those are strong words but listen to what God’s Word says.

Proverbs 8:36 All who hate me love death.

That is the whole platform of the Left.

What do they run on?

What’s their biggest issue?

Its Abortion… literal death.

The murder of unborn children.

Molech and Baal just have a new name… Choice.

Listen… I used to be confused about verses like Romans 3:15–16 Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery.

Or Psalm 73:6 Violence covers them as a garment.

I always thought… what kind of society is that.

Its just a picture of murder all over the place.

Yea… that’s what we are seeing right in front of us.

Abortion on demand not to mention Plan B pills that can get shipped to your house making every mail box in America a potential Abortion Mill.

Transing kids literally cutting off any hope they have for a future family or life.

That’s loving death!

What about all the School Shootings and attacks on Christians that then… the Left won’t condemn because it goes against their narrative.

Instead they run cover for the offender because the truth exposes them.

And just the past couple weeks you had two things that really encapsulate the evil we are facing.

There was woman murdered on a subway by a repeat violent offender who was released back to the streets based on insane DEI policies meanwhile, if you used your God-given right to defend yourself you’d end up fighting for your life in court.

We’ve seen it time and again a two-tiered justice system that only encourages crime because the Bible says that if justice is not swiftly carried out… men will set their hearts even more on evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11).

The exact opposite of what God instituted the government to do.

And then the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk… a Christian man and Father who was standing up for righteousness sake.

And you literally had people clapping and cheering… celebrating his death.

And before you say well that’s fringe people online that’s not mainstream.

When our Congress tried to pray for Charlie Kirk and His family… the Democrats all went into a violent uproar.

When people tell you who they are… believe them!

All who hate me love death… they clothe themselves with violence… their feet are swift to shed innocent blood.

All this is is spiritual principalities and powers manifesting themselves in the physical realm.

What did Jesus say?

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

So yes… principalities and powers… but there is a spiritual war going on in the physical realm.

So it is good and right… when faced with such evil… to pray against them.

God break the teeth of the wicked! (Psalm 3:7).

Bring their plans to nothing and trap them in the net of their own hands!

NT?

But what about the New Testament Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

What about that?

Well some people think that we just do away the imprecatory psalms… that’s part of the Old Testament.

But here’s the problem… the New Testament has curses of its own.

1 Corinthians 16:22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!

Galatians 1:8–9 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

And the Saints in heaven in the book of Revelation clearly pray that God would bring judgment on those that persecuted them on the earth.

Revelation 6:9–10 “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Even Jesus who said Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you proclaimed judgment and woes on the Pharisees… Literally curses.

In Matthew 23:29–36 He said Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

That’s judgment language

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth… again judgment language.

What Do We Make of This?

So what are to make of all this?

How do we balance “Love your enemies” and Imprecatory Psalms?

I will tell you… this takes wisdom…

There’s a balance here but you need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Yes we are called to bless our enemies.

To show them the Love, mercy and grace of Christ.

Matthew 5:44–45 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

But that doesn’t mean we ignore unrighteousness and wickedness.

What it means is that we don’t seek out personal vengeance.

The Bible says…

Romans 12:17–21 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We don’t look out for personal revenge.

We don’t say, “You got me… I’ll get you back.”

So what this means is we can’t go to vigilantism.

We can’t take matters into our own hands and turn to violence in return.

David… for example… did not kill Saul multiple times when He had the chance.

And multiple Psalms talk about Saul being an enemy of David and seeking to kill him (Psalm 18, Psalm 57, 59).

But what did David do?

He prayed and entrusted it to the Lord.

We need to do the same thing.

Give it over to God.

We don’t turn to violence and take matters into our own hands… Beloved, never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God.

Trust in the Lord to deal justice in the manner and timing which He sees fit.

But in the imprecatory Psalms we are not praying for personal vengeance.

These are not prayers for people that offend us.

They are prayers for Enemies…

People that hate God… hate Righteousness… and are actively seeking to destroy righteousness and the church.

Building the High Places and trying to destroy the people of God.

What we are doing in the Imprecatory Psalms is taking the judgment out of our hands and giving it to God.

We are saying… God stop them! Bring them to ruin… let all their plans fall on their own heads!

What we are praying for is righteousness!

Planned Parenthood Example

Let me give you a really easy example for these kind of prayers… God, close planned parenthood. Stop the murder of unborn babies.

Every Christian would say that’s a good, and righteous prayer.

But do you know what you’re really praying.

God take away people’s lively hood.

Let them lose their job.

Let them stop profiting of the blood of the innocent.

May they not be able to put food on their table or feed their children while they murder others.

We’re not praying that God would close one Planned Parenthood just for another to pop back up.

We are praying that God would bring it to utter destruction.

God stop their efforts entirely so that they could never build anything like that ever again.

We might not put it in those words but we know intrinsically that its good for Christians to pray that way even if it makes most Christians today uncomfortable.

Because what are you really praying for?

God’s righteousness.

His judgment… His justice.

We’re not praying for personal vengeance (e.g., Lev. 19:17–18; Prov. 24:17; 25:21–22).

Its not about personal anger.

We are praying out of a heart of righteous anger… righteous indignation about things God’s Word says are wicked.

Righteous Anger

The Bible says, Be angry and do not sin (Ephesians 4:26).

I’ll tell you… with all the soft Christianity there is not enough anger about the wickedness out there.

There should be a righteous indignation about the evil we see in the world.

And we take that righteous indignation and we give it to God in prayer.

These are not prayers of personal vengeance…

They are prayers for the Justice of God!

For His judgment and His righteousness to rule, stop the evil, and deliver the righteous.

Assuming No Repentance

Another thing you need to know about these imprecatory Psalms is that they assume no repentance.

When the Bible prays these prayers they assume the wicked will continue on in their wickedness.

So what we are praying is that God would judge the wicked and bring their wicked ways to an end.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t also hope and pray for their repentance.

One of the best ways to love and bless your enemies is to pray that God would save them.

That He would turn them from their wicked ways and give them faith in Christ to serve Him! (see Psalm 83:13-18).

So these are not prayers that if they were to repent we say that’s not good enough and keep praying God would bring judgment.

No we rejoice! Mercy Triumphs over judgment.

Apostle Paul

Think about the Apostle Paul… a murderer of the Church turned into one of the greatest blessings of the church that ever lived.

On the Cross Jesus prayed Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).

And Stephen… the first Martyr of the Church… followed His example and prayed the same as they stoned him to death with stones (Acts 7:60).

Christians of all people want mercy to triumph over judgment (James 2:13).

We want people to come to Christ.

We don’t want to be like the Pharisees who hate to see the prodigal Son saved.

So we do pray that God would save them and we rejoice with the angels in heaven when He does (Luke 15:7).

But without repentance… if they won’t repent… we pray that God would bring them to an end…

That God would stop them.

That God would deliver us…

And that righteousness would reign.

So What do We Pray?

So what do we pray?

What does it look like to walk and chew gum at the same time.

And that takes us to point number 2 and really the Big Idea for this sermon.

II. Christians Should Pray for God to Thwart the Wicked and Deliver the Righteous that the World might Know His Judgment and Glory

I’ll tell you… I wanted to do a ton of Psalm just to show you how prevalent this is, but we are only going to have time for one.

Let’s turn to Psalm 5.

Psalm 5:1-3 Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

So what do you hear?

There’s a pain… a groaning about the wickedness of the world and David is giving it to God.

Lord to you I pray… I know you hear me and I wait for you and watch.

Psalm 5:4-6 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

So this is a righteous indignation rooted in God’s character and Word.

5:7-8 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

So what does David do?

Again He goes to the Lord.

He doesn’t take matters in His own hand.

He doesn’t just go kill his enemies even though he could… Saul struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands (1 Samuel 18:7).

David entrusted himself to the Lord.

When He said Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me what he’s praying is, “Deliver me!”

Psalm 5: 9-10 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

Here’s the Imprecatory part of the Psalm.

And notice what David prays.

Make them bear their guilt.

Let them fall by their own counsels.

Essentially… God bring their own wickedness on their heads!

You’ll see this all throughout the Psalms.

That Psalm we started out with…

Psalm 35:4–8 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away! Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them! For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction!”

Let them fall into their own net.

God thwart their plans. Bring them to ruin.

Do not let their wickedness go unpunished.

Do you see how praying against our enemies is putting it into the Lord’s hands?

Psalm 5:11-12 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

Lord deliver us… protect us… guard us.

Psalm 5 really is a great example for the kinds of prayers we need in this spiritual war.

Its a trust in the Lord… giving it over to His hands.

A righteous anger where the war is not personal vengeance but against true wickedness.

A prayer that God would bring their own wickedness on their heads and thwart their plans.

And a prayer of deliverance for God’s people.

That’s a prayer for war.

Conclusion

Christians Should Pray for God to Thwart the Wicked and Deliver the Righteous that the World might Know His Judgment and Glory

We as Christians are not praying nearly enough or in the right spirit.

There should be a righteous indignation at what we see in the culture, and the greatest weapon we have is prayer.

Prayer that God would stop the wicked.

Deliver the righteous.

And bring judgment on the evil we see in the world.

Christians are way too comfortable.

We should be provoked in our spirit to do something about the evil we see.

And the most powerful weapon that we have is prayer.

There is nothing more dangerous than a praying church.

Get in the fight.

War is upon you whether you know it or not.

How Do You Pray?

How do you pray?

Revival

First, pray for Revival.

Pray for repentance.

Pray that people would turn and trust in Christ… turn from their sin and live for Him.

Judgment

But also pray for judgment.

Pray that God would thwart our enemies.

Pray that God would bring their wickedness on their own heads.

Pray for our nation and our government leaders that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:2-4).

Be Angry and Do Not Sin

Be angry and do not sin.

Don’t take matters into your own hands.

Don’t give into violence.

Don’t repay evil for evil.

Pray… pray that God would make it right and use the Psalms as your guide.

Like I said… it takes wisdom.

You are going to have to walk and chew gum at the same time.

But its good to pray…

God stop them. Don’t let them get any further.

Turn their wickedness back on their own heads.

And deliver us.

Let righteousness reign.

Jesus said Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16).

That’s the definition of the Imprecatory Psalms.

And they are the kind of prayers we are going to need if we are going to save our nation.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Get in the Fight

Get in the Fight.

Start praying for revival and for God to thwart our enemies.

Pray righteously for righteousness!

And don’t shrink back.

Stand firm on the Word.

Be bold for righteousness… what’s right.

And don’t shrink back for fear of the wicked.

The Church is going to have to rise up if your nation is going have any hope because the only hope is Jesus.

Shine the light… Don’t put your lamp under a basket.

Because if salt has lost its saltiness how will its saltiness be restored?

Prayer is our most powerful weapon against the evil of this world

Are we in the fight?

Are praying for God deliver us… stop the wicked… and let righteousness reign.

Let’s Pray