Some of the Psalms seem downright unChristian as they pray for God’s vengeance on enemies. And yet, a few psalms have a curious prayer request concerning the wicked. Consider, “Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none.” (Psalm 10:15, NASB 2020) Given the evil things recounted earlier in the Psalm (see vs 5-11), this seems a bit light. The wicked in this psalm committed murder, terror, and theft, and their punishment was a broken arm?
And yet, when you think about it, it is perfect. Another psalm says something similar, “Better is the little of the righteous Than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the Lord sustains the righteous.” (Psalm 37:16–17, NASB 2020) What Psalm 10 asks for and what Psalm 37 states as an outcome is more than the breaking of arms. It is God stepping in and removing the ability to cause further harm from the wicked. Breaking their arm removes their power and ability and yet preserves their life for the possibility of repentance.
There is plenty of terror in the world, from common thieves and thugs to the rampages of organized terror. The beauty of these Psalms is that it gives us a prayer. It is not a prayer of destruction but a prayer for God to remove their power and ability to cause harm.
Not all enemies come at us with knives or guns. They attack using other means such as false accusations, ungodly ideas, temptations, rejection, discrimination, curses, and others. They attack our character, our faith, and our Lord. Sometimes subtlely, sometimes overtly. I actually praise God when that happens, for it reveals a heart that needs Jesus. In those instances, our prayers are two-fold. The first part is what we see above – Lord, remove their power and ability to cause harm. The second part is interceding for God’s mercy on them so they would repent and accept Jesus into their lives.
There is one more piece to this. No matter what happens, the Lord is our sustainer. That is to be our attitude, according to Psalm 37. Our hope isn’t in the defeat of our enemies; our hope is in the Lord. “When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within, Then I was stupid and ignorant; I was like an animal before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. You will guide me with Your plan, And afterward receive me to glory.” (Psalm 73:21–24, NASB 2020) Our faith doesn’t rest on the destruction of our enemies but on the everpresent and all-sustaining love of God.
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