Joel M Bradshaw

1Be not silent, O God of my praise! 2For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. 3They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. 4In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. 5So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.–Psalm 109

David was in an impossible situation with very real enemies that him feeling terrified for his life. And he took his situation before God in prayer. In fact the Hebrew of verse 4 literally reads, “but I am prayer.”

The tension is that David prayed very specific prayers asking God to judge his enemies. This was not only a common attitude in David’s day, but in anyone’s day. If I asked you to pray for the people who treated you worst, you would probably pray like David did in Psalm 109.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… (Matthew 5:43-44)

This is why Jesus’ words were and are so counter-cultural. We don’t naturally love our enemies and pray for them. So maybe I’ll just be like David and pray for God to smite my enemies! But wait…

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14)

Darn. I guess Paul isn’t letting my selfish prayers off of the hook.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

David experienced something horrible, but Jesus went through the greatest injustice of all time. He literally never deserved any of what He received. David at least was a sinner.

What kind of person would pray more like Jesus and less like David? That’s our tension regarding prayer and enemies, my friends. Here’s three things to focus on:

1. PRAY FOR GOD TO LEAD YOUR ENEMY TO REPENTANCE.
2. PRAY FOR GOD TO MAKE HIMSELF KNOWN IN YOUR ENEMY’S LIFE. BLESSINGS NOT CURSES!
3. PRAY FOR YOUR HEART TO FORGIVE YOUR ENEMY AND TO LEAD WITH GRACE FOR THE UNDESERVING.

You are praying for God to change you more than you are praying for God to punish your enemy. So counter-cultural. Imagine when the enemy is in your marriage or in your workplace? How can God change your heart as you pray? Remember, friends, in our sins we each were once God’s enemies!–JMB