What to do with difficult words. . .

There are plenty of words in Scripture which are offensive to our ears.  Some are more so than others but as a class or set of words hard for us to hear and even harder to say and pray are the so-called imprecatory Psalms.  They have been troublesome in various contexts and they are omitted from lectionaries and from the Psalms of the modern Roman Breviary.   The whole Psalms and verses in others are troublesome to our ears because they call for a curse from God or calamity from God to descend upon others. It is important to note that these Psalms and the verses in others do not invent the idea of God's curse upon the enemies of the Lord and of His people.  Rather, these imprecatory prayers are grounded in the verypromise of God to Abram:  “…I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee” (Genesis 12:3a).  When an imprecatory prayer calls upon God to act against one’s enemies, it is not out of personal vengeance but for the sake of God’s own cause.  To put it another way, the imprecatory words  only ask that God do what He has already said He would do!  This is also laid down in the words of the Lord who insists that such vengeance does not belong to us but remains His own domain.  “…’Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,’ saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19b).  Psalm 94 illustrates this in David’s prayer:  “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show Thyself.  Lift up Thyself, Thou Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud” (Psalm 94:1-2). 

Specifically, three psalms (58, 83, and 109) have been omitted from the lectionary and from the psalter cycle because of this.  In our own lectionaries, Psalm 83 occurs only in a Gradual for Sexagesima (83:13 & 18).  Among other Psalms, Psalm 139:19-24 are not used.  So also Psalm 69:25, 28 and Psalm 83:18.  It was Pope Paul VI who banished the imprecatory Psalms from the New Roman Breviary.  Lectionary reform was not going to venture much past this and so we seldom hear the approximately 120 verses (three entire psalms: 58, 83, and 109; and additional verses from 19 others).  Oddly enough, the reason cited for their removal is a certain “psychological difficulty” they would arouse.  But these Psalms are not orphans.  In the Old Testament and in the New Testament the same sentiments and so the same difficulty in hearing them.  Moses bitterly laments the weight of office and asks God to kill him at one point (Num 11:15). Jonah, Jeremiah (15:16), and other prophets have similar words of lament.  David and other Psalm writers cry to God not to delay His vengeance and complain that sinners seem to thrive while the just seem to suffer. Frequently we hear this same complaint in the Psalms: “How much longer, O Lord?”  Even in the familiar and beloved hymn, "The Church's One Foundation," the saints cry "how long?" before God makes good on His promise of justice. Even in the New Testament, the martyrs ask God to avenge their blood (Rev 6:10). Jesus is described as slaying the wicked with the sword (of his word) that comes from his mouth.  So, yes, God is not a pushover.  Anger, vengeance, despair, doubt, and indignation are all in Scripture as the faithful take up His own words and pray them against His enemies and theirs.  It is, after all, an honest prayer.

As Hebrews reminds us, we are to pray for our enemies.  That said, we must acknowledge that prayer does not change God's mind with regard to those who have rejected His promise or determined to be enemies of Him and His kingdom.  It is the prayer for their repentance and for the Spirit to work faith in their hearts.  The difference between Christianity and Scripture and Islam and the Qur'an is that God is our actor when it comes to such vengeance and we are not given either the authority or the order to act on His behalf.  In fact, we are called to faith in these prayers and not action -- trusting God to do what He has promised to do without taking up the cause ourselves.  Furthermore, this is not a political prayer against political enemies nor the prayer of a people who are frustrated with folks we do not like and who invoke the Lord to punish them on our behalf.  This is always the prayer of the faithful, praying in faith, knowing that in His own time and on the day of judgment, justice will prevail along with the mercy ours in Christ.  That is the miracle.  God is not going to choose between justice and mercy but gives us both -- the mercy promised to us in Christ because we are in Christ and the justice that will not overlook or dismiss unbelief, the rejection of Christ's salvation, and the suffering and abuse dispensed upon the people of God (the martyrs, for example).  Honestly, I think it causes us more problems to remove these words from our hearing and praying because we might get them wrong than it does the faithful teaching which would accompany such words and prayers.