Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Treat the Wicked | The Writings | Psalm 59

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

In the New Testament, God says you should pray for your enemies. But in the Old Testament, he punishes his enemies. So, what should you do about the wicked people around you? How should you pray for your enemies? In today's episode, Keith looks to Psalm 59 for the answer. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 59

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Should Christians pray for their enemies or curse them? You might think it's an easy question with an obvious answer, but I'm not so sure. Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, but you can't ignore the parts of the Old Testament calling for God to bring harsh judgment on the wicked. We don't get to throw out the Old Testament God because he makes us uncomfortable.

How do we make sense of the whole Bible and reconcile these two seemingly contradictory messages? I know it makes this uncomfortable, but the authors of the Bible are not shy when talking about God's wrath against the wicked. And this is especially true in the book of Psalms. Psalm 1 speaks of the wicked perishing. Psalm 2 talks about the Messiah that will break his enemies with a rod. Psalm 3 calls for God to strike his enemies on the cheek. The list could go on for a while. More than that, some entire psalms are dedicated to asking God to destroy their enemies.

Private school kids have a word for this type of psalm. They're called imprecatory psalms. And Psalm 59 is an imprecatory psalm, or at least it's one of many imprecatory psalms. If you listen to my episode last week on Psalm 54, you'll remember that I explained the story of David and King Saul. Psalm 59 is another Psalm written by David during that time period. In case you missed it, here's a very brief recap. David is hiding in the wilderness because the king of Israel, Saul, is jealous of David and wants to kill him. David's enemies have taken everything away from him, his friends, his family, his homeland,

and David hasn't done anything to deserve it. If you're in David's shoes, what would your prayer sound like? This is what David writes in Psalm 59. We start at the beginning in verse 1. Deliver me from my enemies, O God. Be my fortress against those who are attacked. me. Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood. I just want to take a second and point out something that's been sticking out to me during our time in the Psalms.

When life has fallen apart, notice where David goes. He goes to God in prayer. Is that where you go in times of trouble? David could use every excuse in the book to convince himself that he doesn't have enough time to pray. He's literally on the run for his life from a murderous king. You might think the best thing David could do is get on his feet and keep running. You might think the best thing that David could do is come up with a plan or to reach out to powerful people to help him. But David knows that all his striving will be in vain if God is not on his side. He knows that God is ultimately in control and so he prays. Praying to God, seeking God's face, seeking God's wisdom, seeking God's help is the best thing that any of us can do when we are in trouble. The prayer starts off with David

asking for protection against his enemies. He asks God to be his fortress against the enemies who are conspiring against him. But after verse four, David changes his focus from calling on God's protection to calling on God's vengeance. We pick up in verse 5. You, Lord, God Almighty, you are the God of Israel. rouse yourself to punish all the nations. Show no mercy to wicked traitors. He continues to expand on this idea. He says in verse 11, but do not kill them, Lord our shield, or my people will forget, in your might uproot them and bring them down. For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter. Consume them in your wrath. Consume them till they are no more. David is calling for God's wrath against his enemies, but he doesn't just want God to kill them. No,

David wants God to keep them alive in their suffering so that the people will not forget what God has done. He wants God to make an example of them. David doesn't mince words about how he feels. He wants his enemies destroyed. So how does an imprecatory Psalm like Psalm 59 match up with Jesus who taught us to love our enemies. Are they contradictory? Well, I think the first thing to recognize is that our modern Western tendency is to be skeptical and afraid of God's justice. But that's out of step with how most people around the world and throughout history have thought. We struggle to understand how a good God could bring wrath on people. But most people throughout history have struggled to understand why it's taken so long for a good God to bring wrath on the people who deserve his

judgment. How could a good God look at human trafficking and not be angered? How could a good God look at wars and famines and not be angered? How could a good God look at racism and not be angered? How could a good God look at sexual abuse and not be angered? I don't know about you, but I want a God who will make things right. I want a God who will bring justice to the broken and restore our world. So if God is full of righteous anger, should I be angry? Should I be hostile to those I see as the enemies of myself or of God? If all these bad things are going on, why does Jesus teach us to love our enemies? Well, here's what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12. He writes, Do not repay anyone for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, it is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord. So at first it seems like Paul is saying we shouldn't curse our enemies and pray for God's wrath. He says we shouldn't repay evil with evil, that we should live at peace with others and don't take any revenge. But notice Paul's reasoning and why we should live that way. He says to leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, it is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord. What Paul is showing us here is that we can love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us because we know that one day God will judge our enemies. As sinful human beings, we don't want

revenge to be in our hands. God's anger is perfect and holy. Ours? Well, our anger usually causes more of a mess. Our anger is usually tied to our selfish pride. Plus, who are we to judge anyone given our own sin? But God is holy. God is pure. God loves everyone, and when God brings his justice, we know it is based on truth. We know it is right and good. Let's go back to David now. Based on Psalm 59, you might assume that David was a violent man, that he was going to go after Saul and try to kill him. But every time David had Saul in his sight, he spares him. David never acted out of his anger. Yes, he's upset with his circumstances, and he's angry toward Saul, and rightly so. But just like Jesus, David loved his

enemies. He sought Saul's good, even as Saul was hunting him down. Why? Well, because David knew that God is the one who will repay. God is the one with holy anger. God is the one who will bring justice. So I think David's answers to our questions would be yes and yes. Yes, we as Christians are called to pray for God's justice to be done. But we're also called to love or our enemies. We trust into God who will make everything right. So we don't need to live out of fear or anger. Instead, we lead with love. To Jesus, loving our enemies takes trust. It takes faith. We have to trust that our Father in heaven sees the wrongs that are being done and will act on them. But we will only have this kind of trust when prayer is a constant habit in our lives. We need

prayers like Psalm 59 when we see evil in our world. We need prayers like Psalm 159. We need prayers like Psalm 59 when evil is done against us. Though we never act on our anger, though we only show kindness, love, and mercy to our enemies, we pray that God's justice will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See the wrath of God and Jesus' teaching to love our enemies, they're not contradictory to each other. They're dependent on one another. This was perfectly displayed on the cross when Jesus, God himself loved his enemies. He didn't fight back. He barely even said a word. On that cross, he bore the wrath of God on our behalf. He took the punishment that we deserved. When we were God's enemies, he rescued us. And one day he will return and bring his justice and

peace to all the earth. So because of this hope, we live today knowing that God's justice will prevail. And until that day, we will be known for loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. Amen.