Should we pray imprecatory prayers?

When is it right for Christians to pray imprecatory prayers? Is it right at all?

Imprecatory prayers are effectively a curse. They are prayers calling down God’s judgment upon the enemies of His people. The language is visceral in these prayers, as you can see when you read just a few like Psalms 7, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 109, 137, and 139. The anger, the frustration, of the one praying is palpable. But these kinds of prayers aren’t mere venting—they are an appeal to God’s power and authority, His sovereign control over all the universe.

You can understand why some Christians would reject praying in this way altogether. It seems in conflict with Jesus’ call for us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. But I don’t believe the full counsel of Scripture supports that. Imprecatory prayers modeled in both the Old and New Testaments (Matthew 23; Galatians 1:8-9; Revelation 6:10). Jesus and the apostles alike prayed in this way. We probably shouldn’t dismiss these sorts of prayers and petitions, then.

Imprecatory Prayers & Honoring God’s Commands

Instead, we can see these as a way to properly follow Scripture’s command to be angry and do not sin. We need to turn to God in our distress, to bring Him our discouragement.

Christians in our context tend to be pretty unbiblical about anger. We want to rush past it, ignore it, minimize it as much as we can. That’s what is happening 99% of the time when anyone quotes Ephesians 4:26, which says, “Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil an opportunity.” Our application is, “Well, I don’t want to sin, so I better get over it.” But the irony of minimizing our anger, minimizing what we are feeling in response to opposition, is that in doing so we are, in fact, giving the devil the opportunity to ensnare us in bitterness.

The safest and healthiest place to direct our anger and frustration is to the Lord. That’s the best way to honor this command. And it’s not like the anger we experience in those situations is a surprise to Him, or shocking in any way. God knows every thought we have, He knows every word we’re tempted to speak before we do.

We cannot shock God. But we can trust Him.

You can say to Him, “Lord, I don’t know what to do with this situation—this is wrong. Don’t let it go unpunished. Don’t ignore it. Do whatever you have to do to make this right.”

We Can Know the Answer

And here’s the good news: we already know the answer. God has already promised that every injustice and every evil that is committed in this world will receive its full and righteous penalty. Nothing will be unaccounted for. Nothing will be ignored. God will deal with it all, no matter how insignificant it may seem

But that doesn’t mean that we’re going to see the answer right away, or even in our lifetimes. There are injustices and evils that, for the time being, the Lord has seen fit to allow to continue. And when we see these, we should be angry about them. But we can take our anger and frustration, we can put it in the hands of the Lord. We can say, “I don’t know what’s going to happen with this, I don’t know why it’s happening at all. But I know that I can trust you to do what is right—so however you’re going to do that, whether now or in the future, make it right.” And in doing so, we can find the will to keep going, to not give up.

So when you experience opposition in your life and ministry, when you are tempted to discouragement and anger and frustration, don’t minimize it. Recognize it for what it is. Bring your discouragement and distress to the Lord. Trust Him with it. Rely on His sovereign power and goodness toward His people.

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash