Paul had strong words for the Galatian church, who seemed to be abandoning the gospel and adding to it their own rules and ideas. He spoke of the perversion of the gospel and the dangers of adding to what they had been taught (Gal 1:6-9). It’s always dangerous when we try to emphasise one doctrine above all others; frequently, what becomes heresy starts out as truth, but is then pushed to extremes, or one doctrine is given undue emphasis to the point where it leads people astray.
The emotions expressed in the psalms of lament, particularly those which are also known as the ‘imprecatory’ or ‘cursing’ psalms, are far from the calls of Jesus and His followers to love our enemies and bless those who do us wrong (see Matt 5:43-44, Luke 6:27-31, Rom 12:14,17-21, for example.) The psalmists ask God to take revenge on their enemies: ‘Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked’ (Ps 3:7); ‘Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out’ (Ps 10:15), for example. Such language may make us feel uncomfortable and we may feel that we cannot (or should not) pray such things ourselves. But all Scripture can teach us things, and these prayers show us we can bring every raw emotion to God. Hatred, violent thoughts and a desire to see our enemies brought low (see Ps 137:8-9 for perhaps the most violent of these imprecatory outbursts) may not be commendable, but they are real, and as such must be brought to God if they are to be dealt with appropriately.
If we pretend such emotions do not exist, wanting simply to give a sanitised view of the gospel to people, we will be guilty of preaching a diluted gospel. It is one thing to say these outbursts are right. Such a view would indeed contradict the rest of Scripture. But we have to admit that at one time or other, we have all felt righteous anger and have longed for God to deal with our enemies the way we would secretly like to deal with them! The psalmists are honest enough to speak to God from the heart, and we must too. God is well able to take our fury and our protestations and change our viewpoint, but He can do nothing if we live a life of pretence. Only as we are honest with God, putting aside our polite conventions, can we be changed by His Spirit. The psalms of lament show us a reality that balances with all the other psalms to give us a rounded perspective.
It is better, also, to bring our laments, complaints, fury and curses to God, rather than letting them loose on the world. So often, we ‘vent’ and rage to people, but it is far better, as the psalmists acknowledge, to bring their questions directly to God than to cause others to stumble. (Ps 73:15) The psalms lift the curtain on emotions we usually, for many laudable reasons, keep private. They encourage us, however, that even our most ignoble thoughts and dishonourable emotions, can be revealed to God without shocking Him or causing Him to lose faith in us. We wrestle with these things in prayer so that we can move from the place of anger and bitterness to a place of quiet confidence and trust.
