Should Christians pray imprecatory prayers? There are a little over a dozen imprecatory psalms sprinkled throughout the Book of Psalms. These Psalms call on God to judge the wicked. They are prayers asking for justice and judgement immediately. Actually, each time we pray the line from the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" we are praying an imprecatory prayer. These have been called the prayer-life "nuclear option." From these 12 or 13 psalms we learn two truths about when to employ imprecatory psalms:
1) Imprecatory prayers are prayed from the victims of injustice or those who are witnessing injustice. They ask for the Sovereign God to intervene in swift judgment, before the ultimate judgment at Christ's return.
2) They are prayed against the enemies of God who are hardened in their sin, not necessarily our personal enemies. Imprecatory prayers are rare in the Scriptures. They should be equally rare in the lives of believers. In other words these prayers are not seeking personal revenge.
I invite you to pray with me the following imprecatory prayer:
O LORD, deliver the Ukrainians from the evil man, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian Army.
Preserve them from these violent men,
Who plan evil things in their hearts,
And stir up war continually.
They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
Let the name of ‘Ukraine’ be remembered no more!”
They encircle the Ukrainians with words of hate,
And they attack without cause.
Let burning coals fall upon them!
Let them be cast into the fire,
Into miry pits, no more to rise!
May the creditor seize all that they have;
May strangers plunder the fruit of their toil!
Let there be none to extend kindness to them
Nor give pity to their fatherless children!
May their posterity be cut off;
May their names be blotted out in the second generation!
O my God, make them like whirling dust,
Like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest,
As the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
So may you pursue the Russian army with your tempests,
And terrify them with your hurricane!
For they do not remember to show kindness,
But pursue the poor and needy
And the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
They love to curse; Let curses come upon them!
They do not delight in blessing; may it be far from them!
May they bear their guilt, O God;
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
For they have rebelled against you.
O God, break the teeth of the Russian army
Tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
Let them vanish like water that runs away;
When he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
Let them be put to shame and dishonor
Who seek after the lives of the Ukrainians!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
Who devise evil against them!
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the Lord driving them away!
Let their way be dark and slippery,
With the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
Let destruction come upon them when they do not know it!
And let the net that they hid, ensnare them,
Let them fall into their own destruction!
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of the Ukrainians
Be known among the Russians before your eyes!
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
And make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them,
And let your burning indignation be upon them.
May their armies be in desolation;
Let no one dwell in their tents.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek your name, O LORD.
Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
Let them perish in disgrace,
Let them be before the LORD continually,
That he may cut off the memory of them
From the earth!
That they may know that you alone,
Whose name is the LORD,
Are the Most High over all the earth.
In the Mighty Name of the LORD Jesus,
The King of Kings
And Lord of Lords
AMEN.
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