How the Theology of Imprecatory Psalms Free Us to Love Our Enemies

By Reed S. Dunn

When we pray the psalms that curse our enemies, we coax the darkest emotions out of us and display them to God while we are welcomed into his presence exactly how we are.

How Praying the Imprecatory Psalms Frees Us to Love Our Enemies

When Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, we may wonder whether praying curses upon others is appropriate (Matthew 5:44). In other words, are the imprecatory psalms congruent with the New Testament command to love our enemies? Also, when the gospel teaches us that we are as guilty as anyone, is it right to throw imprecatory stones?

Jesus’s command to love our enemies is not only compatible with the imprecatory psalms, it makes them all the more necessary. These psalms of vengeance and justice have the unique ability to unburden our hearts from the grudges and resentment that makes loving others so difficult. As an example, we need only to look at the author of many of these fiery psalms.

How David Prayed Imprecatory Psalms While Loving His Enemies

David exemplified the harmony between love and imprecatory prayers.

By comparing his prayers to real-world events, we see how his prayers freed him from bitterness and control. For instance, Psalm 59 describes a scene where wicked men prowl like wild dogs hunting for food. Whenever I pray Psalm 59, I have to spiritualize the threat, but it was David’s real-world experience. Those dogs were bloodthirsty men, and the food they hunted was David. When he had the chance to speak to God about them, he vented his anger freely.

For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.

For the cursing and lies that they utter,
consume them in wrath;
consume them till they are no more. (vv. 12–13a)

These men were as evil in real life as they appear in the psalm, yet David had a different attitude in real life than he does in the psalm. David gloated over his enemies in prayer but felt pangs of guilt for taunting Saul in real life (1 Samuel 24:5).

David’s deep respect for Saul didn’t keep him from praying aggressively against him and his men. Instead, imprecatory prayers gave direction to his angry thoughts. They enabled David to honestly name the evil and entrust himself to the justice of God. Anger only becomes sinful when we let it poison our hearts or we act on it against others. David did neither because David prayed. He spoke his mind in prayer so he could return to life as God’s child and Saul’s embattled servant.

David articulated this perfectly while speaking to Saul at the end of the cave incident: “May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you” (1 Samuel 24:13). David didn’t have to judge because David prayed. He entrusted himself to the judge and contented himself with whatever vengeance God deemed appropriate. Praying imprecatory psalms took all of this out of David’s hands, and it can do the same for us. David loved his enemies even though he cursed them in prayer. Or, perhaps, David was able to love his enemies because he first cursed them in prayer.

Imprecations Give Our Entire Selves to God

David’s faith in God’s justice meant that he could say anything to God and know that God would do what was good and just. He did not have to tell God what to do, he could simply open his heart to God. Some of the imprecatory psalms may seem like overreactions, but David was free to overreact in prayer because he knew God wouldn’t overreact in real life. That is the epitome of a safe space.

These psalms free us by giving us the chance to experience God’s acceptance at the deepest level. No one would ever pray these prayers if they were trying to earn God’s favor. Instead, we speak freely to him and are fully known. The imprecatory psalms coax the darkest emotions out of us and display them to God, yet we are welcomed into his presence exactly how we are. We have nothing to hide and there is nothing we can say that would change his love for us. That is why these imprecatory psalms can show us gospel truth in the deepest corners of our heart.

Imprecatory Psalms for Now

The evil that troubles our world is temporary. Christ triumphed over the principalities of this world through his death and resurrection (Colossians 2:15). Yet, for now, war rages in Christ’s absence.

Psalm after psalm wrestles with the evil of this world and its assault on the believing community. Yet the Psalter points beyond the evil that prowls about this world. The imprecatory psalms strike a note of optimism, because they work off the assumption that good triumphs over evil, that God is willing and powerful enough to judge this world.

War ends in the final line of the final psalm: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).

We keep praying these psalms until the day comes when prayers like these are no longer needed.

This article has been adapted from Reed S. Dunn’s book When You Don’t Have the Words: Praying the Psalms, published by Lexham Press.