Depending on how insolated you keep yourself from world events (and no one would blame you if you did), you have probably seen recent footage of the brutal Hamas attack on the Israeli people. The clips and images coming out of this attack are gut-wrenching: children murdered in front of their families, civilians killed indiscriminately, and drones bombing ambulances. Many women have been kidnapped, some of them killed with their bare bodies paraded around like trophies. One horrifying video depicted a woman being taken out of some kind of armored van with gashes on her arms and blood covering her trousers. The horrors she endured which led to this are too horrible to type, but obvious nonetheless.
God hates this.
And to take it even further, for as much as we love the phrase "God loves the sinner but hates the sin," the Bible tells us something different. God hates both violence and the violent man. God hates what Hamas has done, and God hates the soldiers who have done it.
Psalm 5:6 - You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Proverbs 9:16-18 - There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil...
These verses don't say that God hates when people are bloodthirsty. He hates bloodthirsty men. It's not that God merely hates when innocent blood is shed. He hates the hands who shed it. Remember that the world before the great flood was characterized by violence (Gen. 6:11). God didn't send the flood to kill violence. He sent it to kill violent people.
So in light of God's feelings about current events, how should Christians pray? What should fill our hearts as we both seek to emulate God's character and wisely engage with the horrors painting our news feeds?
Thankfully, the Bible gives us a trove of words to think and pray. They're called imprecatory psalms.
The psalms and prayers can be prayed when terrorists murder innocent people, but they can also prayed in many other circumstances. They can be prayed against dictators, abortion doctors, LGBTQ-affirming physicians who pump hormones into prepubescent children, etc. They are prayers that channel our deepest desires for justice into God-honoring worship. They need to be utilized if we're going to make sense of this crazy world, our place in it, and God's power over it.
If you will allow me to speak in my preacher-voice for a moment, please turn with me to Psalm 74.
What Are Imprecatory Psalms?
Psalm 74:10-11 -
How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
Psalm 74 is called an imprecatory psalm. Imprecatory psalms are prayers that appeal to God to destroy His enemies and vindicate His people. They are prayers which plead with God for the destruction of the wicked and the failure of their plans. Other examples of these would be Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, and 140.
Now, I know there will be well-meaning Christians who will suggest that it is "unloving" to choose this passage for prayer and meditation during these times. However, I would like to state for the record that the words quoted above are inspired by the Holy Spirit, and are thus profitable for use for all time (2 Tim. 3:16-17). In fact, the verses cited in the previous sentence say that the words of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament are profitable for "every good work."
So praying Psalm 74 (or any imprecatory psalm) isn't merely acceptable, it's good.
Imprecatory prayers give voice to the anger a Christian rightly feels in response to rampant wickedness in the world. Sometimes this wickedness affects us directly, other times it affects people we love or the nation in which we live. When that anger wells up in our hearts, God invites us to utilize the imprecatory psalms so that we can vent our anger without sin (Eph. 4:26). Instead of yelling curse words at your TV, you can pray these blessed words instead.
Are We Allowed to Pray for Someone's Destruction?
The theologically minded might quote Ephesians 6 and argue that in the New Testament, our enemy is spiritual, and therefore we should only pray imprecatory psalms against Satan and his demons. I agree that we should do this, but I don't take Ephesians 6 to mean the battles we fight are merely with Satan and no one else. I take it to mean that the battle we're in is one that is fundamentally spiritual and not physical.
So we can understand the nature of, let's say, Hamas or Iran as a battle against those with an ideology animated by Satan's lies and schemes. However, the battle is still with the individual people who are in league with Satan.
Of course, Christian churches aren't called to take up arms and fight them with weapons and physical violence. There is a place for Christians in the military to use violence, or particular Christians acting in self-defense (either in defense of themselves, their family, or their homeland).
But for Christians living thousands of miles away, seeing the firsthand images of these horrors, we should respond by praying to our Father to arise and destroy the powers of darkness undergirding these terrorist groups and wicked nations. More than this, we should ask God to destroy the people responsible for these horrors.
And if I may be so bold, I might even add that we are at liberty to pray for their destruction before we pray for any potential salvation (more on this in a second).
I think that many Christians are uncomfortable with the idea that we might be angry at someone, or that we might burn with rage against certain evil men of our day. Sure, we can be mad at Hitler, but he's already dead! Shouldn't we exclusively desire the salvation of evil people alive today?
It's good to want salvation for evil people. We were evil before we were saved. But before we go there, ask this: is it over the line for the people of God to seethe in anger at violent people who parade through the streets gunning down bystanders, kidnapping women and girls, and firing missiles at civilians?
And if we can't be angry about this, can we be angry about anything? Ever?
Christians should be peace-loving people. We want to be peacemakers who serve under the authority of the Prince of Peace. However, we should also be angry about the right things. And we should first and foremost vent our anger to the Lord because vengeance against such evil people belongs to Him.
Deuteronomy 32:35 - Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’
If God says vengeance belongs to Him, how could it be wrong for us to ask Him to avenge? The martyrs in Revelation 6:10 cry out for this: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Why should we not pray the same thing?
And I know that ringing in the back of some of our minds are the words of the Lord Jesus: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt. 5:44). But in a similar passage, Paul makes the same point, but he does so by appealing to Deuteronomy 32:35. Romans 12: 18-19: "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.”
In order to properly think and pray about my enemies, I have to acknowledge 1. I have enemies and 2. It's God's prerogative to punish them in His way and in His time. My job isn't to go out and avenge myself or others by using the same methods they use to cause harm. We cannot become bloodthirsty for bloodthirsty people. Instead, we have to understand that justice rests ultimately in God's hands, and He is the one to whom we make our appeals for vindication.
This is the beauty of imprecatory psalms: They allow us to vent the righteous anger we should feel, directed at the very people against whom God's anger burns while appealing to God's control and power to bring justice in His time and way. We don't direct our anger toward getting back at evil people for their evil, we direct it to God in prayer while understanding that vengence is His. You can't love your enemies unless you acknowledge that it's God's job to destroy them, not yours.
Prayers For Judgement Are Prayers for Salvation
By asking God to destroy the wicked who prey on the weak, we are indirectly praying for the salvation of the weak. Part of praying for the deliverance of a young woman who has been kidnapped by terrorists is praying for the destruction of the terrorists. Part of praying for a war to end is praying that God bring to ruin all "masters of war" (to quote Dylan). Part of praying for peace in the Middle East means praying for the destruction of government leaders who make their entire aim the genocide of entire ethnic groups (looking at you, Iran).
And again, I know some will accuse me of being unloving here. Shouldn't you pray for the salvation of these soldiers, terrorists, and state leaders? You tell me. How did Jesus speak about strong people who prey on the weak?
Matthew 18:6-7 - Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!
What about the words of Paul against those who were leading the Galatians into damnable doctrines that would shipwreck their faith?
Galatians 5:12 - I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
Think even of Nehemiah's prayer against Sanballat and Tobiah, who opposed the rebuilding and restoration of Jerusalem, in Nehemiah 4:4-5 -
Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
So if Jesus can say that those who cause "little ones" to sin should drown themselves, and Paul says that those who lead impressionable people astray should castrate themselves, how then could it be out of line for a Christian to pray "destroy them, Lord" against those who slaughter innocent men, women, and children? Nehemiah even prays that God would destroy Sanballat and Tobiah before they have a chance to repent.
If anything, the inspired prayer I recommended (Psalm 74) is less severe than the verses (all of which were inspired by the Holy Spirit) cited above.
When I pray "destroy them, Lord" against those who kill innocent people and bring ruin to their land, I'm indirectly praying that God would make straight the path for those innocent people from the ruined land to find life in Jesus Christ. "Destroy them" is another way to say "Remove those standing between these oppressed people and the life you've designed them to live."
A Closing Prayer
Psalm 83:13-18 -
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.
As media outlets shrug off these horrors, pray these words. As activists claim that Israelis are "getting what they deserve," pray these words. As wicked state leaders are funding terrorist groups, pray these words. As United States politicians indirectly fund these wicked states by funneling tax dollars toward them, pray these words. As people all around the world celebrate the atrocities committed by these terrorists, pray these words. As Hamas soldiers slaughter innocent people, pray these words.
Maybe God will be pleased to destroy them by saving them. The Apostle Paul was a raving enemy of God's people, and God destroyed his evil by saving him. Maybe God will be pleased to destroy them through their actual death or humiliation, and He did with Judas.
We can pray, and mean, the words cited above: "Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord." We can ask for their destruction so that they may realize their sin, repent, and be forgiven.
How God brings the evil of His enemies to an end is up to Him. My prayer is simply that He does it soon. Blessed be the name of the Lord.