Smite ’Em or Surrender Them?

By Dean Collins

Over the last 10 or more years, I have enjoyed serving with a friend on several significant and difficult projects. We have been through many hard battles together in various business projects. From time to time we have pondered various passages of scripture that include imprecatory prayers. Imprecatory prayers are found in the psalms and some of the prophets and include praying for God to interrupt the attacks of those who work against his servant.

A good example of an imprecatory psalm is in chapter 35. Right out of the gate the psalmist calls on God to jump in and deal with his enemies. We don’t know the details, but David is in a whirl of a mess and sees his situation as an emergency. In his urgency he asks God to fight against those who fight against him. My friend calls these kinds of prayers “Smite ’em” prayers! 

If you are a follower of Jesus, then you might immediately get uncomfortable because in the back of your mind you remember that Jesus says we are to turn the other cheek and love our enemies. Hard to love your enemy when you simply want Jesus to smack ’em down for you. So what do we do? Omit the prayers of imprecation like we find in Psalm 35? Follow Jesus in most things but not in the forgiving and loving our enemies? I am pretty sure neither of these options are the right answer.

Walter Brueggemann calls Psalm 35 a psalm of disorientation, suggesting that whatever David was going through had him off balance and confused in the middle of his struggle. I can relate to that. Often in the middle of a crisis we lose perspective. All we can see is the worst thing in front of us and not the many people or ways that things might work out. When you are in the trenches fighting, you simply don’t have time to think about everything. You simply try to defend yourself.

So how did David pray? He did tell God to fight against his enemies. He did ask God to grab weapons and fight for him: “Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers!” And he asked God to put them to shame and dishonor who seek after his life. 

It seems to me that David did two things in this prayer:

1) He handed the situation over to God. He did not ask God to help him kill or wound his enemies, but rather he surrendered them to God to deal with as he would. Yes, David had suggestions, but ultimately, he handed the situation over to God.

2) He asked God to reverse the attack and cause whatever the enemy has in mind for him to actually be their outcome.

David is pleading for God’s intervention. And his plea is that God take control of the situation, reverse the damages, and for justice to be achieved. By placing the situation in God’s hands, it is therefore up to God to do what he chooses. It is no longer in the psalmist’s control. And truthfully, when is it ever truly in our control? Yes, we can choose to control ourselves, but we cannot control others. In the end, God is the judge of all things.  

In Romans 12, the apostle Paul is clearly referring to the teachings of Jesus and of Moses when he reminds believers that vengeance is in the Lord’s realm and not ours.

To pray imprecatory psalms forces us to go deeper into spiritual maturity and intimacy with God. We can freely own our emotions and express our frustrations with what is happening to us. And ultimately, we don’t want God to destroy people but to destroy the evil that they do, even bringing them to repentance. It is hard to remember in times of attack that everyone is created in God’s image. And know that it is wise to put those who directly or indirectly bring us harm into God’s hands, asking him to fix the situation and reconcile everyone to himself.

David concludes by asking that God would vindicate him:

“Vindicate me, O Lord, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me! Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, our heart’s desire!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.” Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!”

At the end of this day, we can learn to say and declare as David did:

“Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant! Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.”

Father, by the work of your Holy Spirit, we surrender our enemies and all those who come against us in life into your hands. We ask you to protect and deliver us. Do your perfect work in us that we may not sin against another. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Your Time with God’s Word
Psalm 35:1-28; Romans 12:14-21 ESV

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