Tag: god’s wrath

Psalm 83:1-4, 13-18 – Against Evil

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year A1 Comment

Calvin and Hobbes - imprecation

O God, do not be silent!
Do not be deaf.
Do not be quiet, O God.
Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies?
Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
They devise crafty schemes against your people;
they conspire against your precious ones.
“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
We will destroy the very memory of its existence….”

O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind!
As a fire burns a forest
and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
chase them with your fierce storm;
terrify them with your tempest.
Utterly disgrace them
until they submit to your name, O Lord.
Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
Let them die in disgrace.
Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
that you alone are the Most High,
supreme over all the earth. (NLT)

The psalms are the church’s prayer book.  Many of the psalms are laments and many of them are worshipful songs of praise. Then there are the “imprecatory” (pronounced im-PRECK-a-tory) psalms.  To “imprecate” means to invoke evil upon someone; it is to pronounce a curse.  The reason for the imprecatory psalm is that it is not any person’s place to engage in revenge or retaliation.  Instead, for people who are genuinely caught in the cross-hairs of evil and have sinful persons dogging them, prayer is their most effective recourse.

Sometimes you must tell it like it is.  There is a time to do your best in putting up a good face and dealing with people who do not ever stop gossiping, slandering, and trying to get their way.

There is also a time to call such behavior “evil” and cry out to God for help.

There are many folks who consider imprecatory psalms a problem because of their detailed expressions of imprecation. Yet, such psalms refuse to put a positive spin on malevolent motives, wicked words, and destructive actions. Desperate people utter desperate prayers. Their unflinching sense of injustice will not allow them to sugarcoat the villainous plans of corrupt people. Evil is never toppled with tepid prayers from wimpy worshipers. Rather, nefarious agendas are thwarted in the teeth of specific, focused, and intense prayers directed with spiritual precision to the very core of diabolical forces.

We need not be shy about being real with God, even with praying imprecatory prayers.  There really are people in this world, maybe even in your own life, that have malicious intent against you or others.  Our job is not personal revenge, but to entrust ourselves to the God who fights for the poor, the oppressed, and the needy against the arrogant and the powerful.

Let your prayers reflect your life.

Along with psalms of praise lifted during times of celebration, so imprecatory psalms are not to be ignored but need to be uttered equally loud as prayers to almighty God in seasons of desperate evil. If you have a gut feeling deep down that wicked people are running amok, then use this psalm as a prayer against the darkness which seeks to envelop the earth.

Jesus Christ will build his church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it (Matthew 16:18). The picture Jesus portrayed is one of faithful believers equipped with righteousness and justice storming the gates of hell, not shying away from it. Baked within the Lord’s words were the promise that evil atrocities will not have the day – that God’s people will not be destroyed or overwhelmed because of demonic and satanic power.

There is a time to flee and then there is a time to engage. I am suggesting that the chief way of mitigating evil is to punch it in the mouth with imprecatory psalms prayed with righteous flavor and focused directly against the powers of this present darkness. Why prayer of all things in dealing with evil?…

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV)

Spiritual problems require spiritual implements to solve. And the tool of imprecatory psalms is a major way of not only pushing back the dark forces of this world but is the means of spiritual assertiveness against all forms of heinous acts and acerbic words from depraved people and evil systems.

God’s wrath is an expression of God’s love.

God is not okay with evil taking root in the lives and institutions of humanity. Prayer is our privilege of coming to the God who upholds justice and righteousness. For if God is for us, who can be against us?

God Almighty, may you hear me in the day of my trouble and send help from your holy sanctuary and strengthen my faith. Breathe your Holy Spirit into me and inspire me with a passion for goodness and truth, justice, and righteousness. Lord Jesus be present with me in your risen power and protect me from harm and from all that would hinder your healing presence in this world. You overcame the forces of Satan, redeemed the world, then ascended to the Father. May you be with me and within me; before me and behind me; on my right and on my left; above me and beneath me; and around me always. Amen.

Revelation 14:12-20 – Enduring to the End

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Judgment Day by William de Kooning 1946
Judgment Day by William de Kooning, 1946

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So, the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So, the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse’s bridle, for about two hundred miles. (NRSV)

The Scripture meditations I offer each day are based in the daily readings of the Revised Common Lectionary. The readings are designed to move us through the whole of the Bible in a three year cycle; and, they are arranged so that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday readings anticipate the Sunday scriptures, and the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday readings reflect on Sunday’s texts. Today’s New Testament lesson is such a reflection on Sunday’s Gospel reading of Christ’s Parable of the Weeds (Parable of the Wheat and Tares).

Jesus made it clear in the parable that it is not our job to weed out evil. This will be done by the angels at the end of the age. Well, here we are in Revelation with a grim look into the future as to how it all shakes-out. And, as you can readily see, it is not a pretty picture. Those among us who are visual learners and picture the words in their minds, their stomachs might just be turning about now.

The entire book of Revelation was originally meant to encourage believers in Jesus to persevere, endure, and keep going in their commitment to Christ. As they were undergoing difficulty and even persecution for their faith, this apocalyptic vision of the Apostle John was to instill hope that it will not always be this way. There is a time coming soon in which the problem of evil will be taken care of, once for all.  Until that final day of judgment comes, we are to hold fast to our faith and continue to keep the commandments of Christ.

Judgment Day by Aaron Douglas 1939
Judgment Day by Aaron Douglas, 1939

The wrath of God has always been an issue with various people throughout the ages. In contemporary theology, it is common to have groups of folks polarized between either making God out to be constantly angry and looking to zap people, or dismissing God’s wraith altogether as some outdated and antiquated idea. Neither of these approaches will do.

God’s anger and wrath exists, yet it is never divorced from God’s love. Rather than viewing wrath and love as two sides of the same coin, I believe a healthier and more biblical understanding is to discern God’s wrath as an expression of God’s love. I will explain….

When God bends to observe us in the world and sees injustice, war, poverty, oppression, trauma, and abuse from narcissistic people who exalt themselves above others and use them for selfish purposes, I am here to say to that God is not okay with this! Whenever God looks at the world and sees governments, institutions, corporations, and even churches which maintain structures that keep others from becoming all that God intends for them to become, Divine compassion is stirred along with a determination to bring about justice and righteousness.

Only God has the combination of willingness, power, and ability to handle the evil of this world in a way which is both just and loving. I fully realize there are many times when we wonder if God is really watching, or not, and are curious if he is aloof and uncaring to our plight. There is a day when the dramatic will happen, but that day is not today. For now, God is patiently and carefully working his love into the fabric of this world in a way that will not destroy the innocent and compromise the integrity of the righteous.

So, until the time is ripe for God to act in a more decisive manner by equipping angels with scythes and bringing in the final harvest, we experience pain and hurt. We sometimes are misjudged and misunderstood by others. We often get shafted by systems which are supposed to be helping us. We can, however, be assured that God is working behind the scenes, planting seeds of love and grace, and tending to the growth till the time is right to gather the abundant crop. Acting too soon and going off half-cocked without enough information is what we humans tend to do. Not so with God.

So, the fact of the matter is that justice and injustice will co-exist side-by-side for a while. Righteousness and evil will be found together everywhere we go, including our own hearts – holding both our altruistic motives and our evil inclinations.

Sisters and brothers, let us endure, persevere, and be patient. God is good and will not forget your deeds done in faith, your actions inspired by hope, and your work animated by love.

Lord Christ, you came into the world as one of us, and suffered as we do. As I go through the trials of life, help me to realize that you are with me at all times and in all things; that I have no secrets from you; and that your loving grace enfolds me for eternity. In the security of your embrace I pray. Amen.

Psalm 11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            It is part of the human condition that we will eventually take the brunt of someone’s poison darts.  If you have ever received a nasty e-mail based on half-truths and accusations; stood dumbfounded as someone hurled misinformation and criticism at you; and/or experienced the victimization that comes from slanderous and gossiping tongues, then the psalmist knows exactly how you feel.  “Those evil people have put their arrows on their bows, and they are standing in the shadows, aiming at good people.”
 
            To be the target of evil speech or actions is, at the least, unsettling, and, at worst, can bring years of struggle, depression, and inability to serve.  But there is another who sees it all, and he will address the wrong.  “The LORD is sitting in his sacred temple on his throne in heaven.  He knows everything we do because he sees us all….  The LORD always does right and wants justice done.  Everyone who does right will see his face.”  God will act because he “despises those who are cruel and love violence.”
 
            In other words, it is not a good idea to get on God’s bad side.  The way to flare God’s anger is by possessing an acerbic tongue; relishing in the verbal violence; and, having no remorse about any of it.  Because God loves people, he hates wickedness.  The righteous are to take solace in the truth that God really does see the harm done, and is in a position to do something about it.  Like the psalmist, we run to the Lord and trust in his ultimate judgment.
 

 

            God of justice, look at the state of your servant and act on my behalf.  Do not let evil prevail, but bury the ungodly so that they can no longer do any harm.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.  Amen.