How would you like to go to church on Sunday morning and sing a song like Psalm 109? Written by David and sung during public worship gatherings by the Hebrew people, it stops me in my tracks. It is a song asking God to curse our enemies. It is a song of hatred for sin. It is a song that doesn’t lift one’s spirits but forces us to think about sin. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever heard this Psalm read in church. Most of us would like to just cut it out of our Bibles. We are very uncomfortable with pleas for the destruction of our enemies. That doesn’t even seem Christian to us! I would say that taking our sin seriously, is very Christian.
Oh, how we hate to think about sin, both ours and others, but I have to wonder if singing a song like this might help us to take sin more seriously. We want to sing to a God who shows us grace and mercy but sometimes I wonder if that makes us less serious about the sin in our life. We want to serve a God of love and mercy, but we are not comfortable with a God who holds judgment and justice in his hands.
What might happen if I had the courage to pray a prayer like Psalm 109? I think I would take sin more seriously. I also wonder if I would be as willing as David to hand it all over into God’s hands rather than seek vengeance myself. David trusts God’s ultimate judgment and gives up his right to exercise any sort of punishment on his enemies.
- submitted by Sandy Welfare
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