0404 RESPONDING TO OUR ENEMIES

HOW TO PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES

There is a special category for some of the psalms, called imprecatory psalms. Psalms that are vindictive in their tone. They do not take vengeance, for vengeance is mine I will repay says the lord. However, they do ask God to take his righteous vengeance on enemies. They are honest, candid psalms, and i appreciate their sentiment. Because when we are wronged and hurt by someone, we want to express our anger, even in our prayers. For example:

Psalm 3:7 “Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.”

Psalm 69:22-28 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. . . . Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

However, at least when being persecuted for the cause of Christ, this chapter shows a very different response. Peter and John had been arrested and taken before the high counsel, then threatened and warned before being released. Then Peter and John gathered with the church, which was still in its infancy, and they prayed in response to the situation. But here is what they prayed:

Acts 4:29-31 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 

Rather than asking God to take vengeance on their enemies, they pray for boldness, that they will be able to keep proclaiming the truth in spite of the opposition. Where’s the beef?

I once heard someone speak to the church before he was deployed with the Army to be in a dangerous place. He said, if you want to know how to pray for me, you can pray for my safety if you wish, but really what I want is for you to pray for the success of the mission.

That’s what the church was praying in this passage. Not for vengeance or justice. Not even for safety and health. But for the success of the mission. Pleading with God to work miracles, to fill them with boldness and to help them succeed in passing on the name of jesus. 

And as reinforcement of the wisdom and spiritual discernment of this prayer, the Lord responded to their prayer in a powerful way: Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Lord, let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for the success of your work on earth, rather than to pray for vengeance or even for safety.

Jesus said that if someone strikes you on the cheek, turn and offer him the other one as well. It’s not the way our flesh naturally responds to unjust persecution. But if our job is to prepare the way of the Lord, then persecution is nothing more than an extra layer of conviction for us.

Jesus taught us to pray, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” And then he followed up on the topic after his model prayer by saying that if we don’t forgive others, we cannot ask God to forgive us. And he told us to bless those who curse us. To bless, and not to curse. And to pray for those who misuse us.

May the Lord grant you strength and love, grace and peace, forgiveness and joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.