Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
September 14, 1986
Get 'Em, God
Psalm 109:1-21
It's not by accident that I had Gary read the Scripture after I prayed. This is a very vivid and powerful psalm. And it raises tough questions: Should Christians curse people? To the point of asking God to get their families?
Some think so. Bob Hymer is pastor of a huge Baptist church in Los Angeles. He is strongly opposed to abortion, and has prayed for God to straighten out the Supreme Court. He calls it the "3 R's" - repentance, retirement, or removal, of the Supreme Court justices. On June 11 the Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to uphold the right to an abortion. Now Hymer prays for God to "kill all five of these men".
Do you think he's right? Abortion kills one-and-a-half million babies a year. But most Christians feel queasy about this kind of prayer. And so we are embarrassed by this psalm, and the others that are like it.
I think this psalm is needed today. Not that we should pray for irritating people to drop dead, exactly. But this psalm touches deeply on something we all need to face. Instead of hiding it somewhere or explaining it away, we should put parts of it in bold print. Because this psalm confronts a heavy topic - sin. The kind of sin that hurts people. David talks about being hated and attacked by people who used to be close to him.
Few things are as bitter as being betrayed. You wonder if you can trust anybody. And it doesn't necessarily help if someone else comes up, pats you on the back, and says "forgive and forget". That's easy to say - but wait till it happens to them! Their neat theology goes out the window. Something deep within us demands that wrongs should be set right. Psychologists say it is one of the first ethical situations a child understands. They know when they are being treated unfairly, and it bothers them.
As Christians we should always seek to have justice done. Even it it's inconvenient or costly. Want to know one of the weaknesses in America today? We demand justice when we are wronged, but we don't give a hoot about anyone else. We just close our eyes till it hits home.
Psalm 109 is about justice, about righting a wrong. There are a lot of ways to do this. Let's say someone has stabbed you in the back. You can follow the wisdom of Joe Kennedy - "Don't get mad, get even."
Revenge is something most people tend to dream about rather than practice. One magazine I found had ten different revenge fantasies in it. Why don't we usually go ahead with it? Because revenge has a way of backfiring. And deep inside, we know it's wrong. Jesus never said, "Do unto others before they do unto you."
You may have the impression that this is what David is up to. He is out to get his enemies. Not exactly. His words are harsh, but look at his actions. In verse 3 he says he has given them no cause. In verse 4 he says he has given them love or friendship. He has given himself to prayer - probably for them. In verse 5 he claims to have done only good for them.
The only ones dishing out the evil are his enemies. There is one thing David is doing - he is committing the situation to God in prayer. And he doesn't mince any words about it.
This is where we have the problems. A large part of the psalm is devoted to what seem to be curses. But not exactly. If you look carefully you'll find that David is asking God to right the wrongs. David knows God. He knows God hates evil and has a passion for justice, not just getting even. As verses 16 and 17 show, David is asking that their punishment correspond to their sins. Nothing more and nothing less. Every human court is based on this principle.
In revenge, you tend to get carried away. The whole idea is to hurt them bad. True justice cannot allow this.
But what about David's plea for fatherless children, begging in the wasteland? It goes back to the Old Testament concept of corporate solidarity - if one person is guilty, the whole group shares in the guilt. The sins of fathers are visited on their children. Also I think we have to recognize that David is praying with a sense of outrage. He would not be expected to be taken literally. (And the Old Testament itself rescinded this expectation, so each generation suffered only for its own sins.)
Jeremiah the prophet prayed the same way. In one place he asks God to kill the man who did not murder Jeremiah's pregnant mother. He doesn't mean it literally. It's just a vivid way to tell God his life has been awfully rough.
The role of psalms is to kindle our emotions. The curses are like a scream - they startle us. They help us to feel the full impact of evil.
It's interesting that God doesn't rubber-stamp all our screams. When Jeremiah gave harsh prayers about his enemies, as often as not God rebukes him, God answers back. God told Job his words were without knowledge. But he also tells him that Job has spoken what is right. God can see beyond the surface. He sifts through our outbursts to see what we are really feeling.
Is there a difference between this psalm and the New Testament? Absolutely. The New Testament still has the idea of vindication. Jesus gives a parable about a widow who pesters a corrupt judge. She wants a wrong to be set right. Jesus concludes by saying: God will se we get vindicated, and quickly.
The New Testament also has curses. Jesus blasted a fig tree as a solemn warning to the people of Israel. In the second chapter of Revelation he threatens to curse churches that don't shape up. And then there's Ananias and Sapphira who were struck dead for lying to God.
Psalm 109 is actually quoted in the New Testament. Peter applies verse 8 to Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. It's the only literal fulfillment of any of the curses that we know of.
The New Testament carries over all of these themes. But there is a tremendous change in tone. Because between the Old Testament And the New Testament stands the cross of Jesus Christ. Instead of condemning people, we are commended to reconcile people to bring them together. This even applies to enemies.
When I read Psalm 109 I think of all the pain and suffering people inflict on others. But then I remember the words of Jesus to bless rather than curse. Throughout the New Testament we are told to leave vindication and revenge to God, just like David actually does. God will have the last word, and He'll right every wrong.
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This sermon draws heavily on Derek Kidner's commentary on the Psalms (InterVarsity Press).
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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