Psalm 109:6-15 “Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him come out guilty. Let his prayer be turned into sin. Let his days be few. Let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins. Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labour. Let there be no one to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the LORD. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;”

Yikes! Can we be this way? Or does the gospel completely change things?

Imprecatory Psalms call down God’s judgment on the ungodly and evil. Jesus does quote from those Psalms to indicate His innocence and uprightness:

John 15:25 “But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’ “

But we also see Him praying:

John 23:34 “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.’ Dividing his garments amongst them, they cast lots.”

Was he sometime harsh on religious leadership? Or even pointed to others? Yes, but the words we see him crying out to God on behalf of others when He was on the cross were words of compassion and forgiveness.

So yes, I believe that the gospel makes a difference, and the words from the gospel of Matthew in yesterday’s reading should guide us. We can cry out for justice, but we do it in such a way that is mindful of the sinfulness of the world and their need for a savior. After all, we used to be like them!

1 Corinthians 6:11 “Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.”

Romans 9:1-5 “I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.”

For additional worship: Awesome God (Rich Mullins)