“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. (Luke 6:27,28 ESV)
Prayer and Love
I admit that I like the idea of praying strong, angry, vengeful prayers. You know the kind that I mean. “Dear All-Powerful God! Destroy my (and Yours, I guess) enemies! BASH them! Shame them! Hurt them!”
We find this kind of prayer in the Psalms, for instance. (e.g. Psalms 69 and 109)
The problem with those imprecatory prayers, though, is first, that only God knows who His enemies are. While certainly folk, institutions, and nations can be identified as acting in a way clearly opposed to God’s will… so can most of our actions. Only God knows who His enemies are. God clearly DOES have enemies! But our definition does not necessarily match God’s deeper understanding.
The second problem with imprecatory prayers is that Jesus gives us this difficult command. Love those who hate us, curse us, and abuse us. Love our enemies.
I saw a meme this morning. It asked us to pray that our unrighteous leaders be caught, shamed, ruined, and removed from power. I understood the frustration, anger, and pain that led to that meme.
But I disagree with it.
What if instead we really prayed for those unrighteous leaders, in love? What if we really tried to desire the best for those who have acted in ways that display hate towards us? What if we desired the best for those who have cursed us? What if we desired the best for those who have abused us?
What would that ‘best’ be?
It is a pretty simple thing. Do we believe in the power of the gospel? What a grand thing it would be if those who oppose God and His work fell in love with Him!
Praying that our enemies be destroyed is not praying in love.
Praying that the rebellious hearts of our enemies be transformed is. Praying that His apparent enemies be stymied by a shocking and glorious transformation (exactly as has happened in OUR lives!) into citizens of Christ’s Kingdom is. Praying that God’s enemies be utterly and completely defeated because they are no longer His enemies is.
Prayer and love are necessary partners.
Take the love God grants us.