ON IMPRECATORY PRAYER

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1 Be not silent, O God of my praise! 2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. 3 They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. 4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. Psalm 109:1-4 ESV

When we give ourselves to prayer we have gained the place of rest. None of the curses and imprecations we might imagine can completely fill up all the judgements God has in store for the unrighteous. Furthermore, whatever punishments we might choose for them would probably just have unintended consequences and make things worse. Lacking omniscience, we do not know how best to pray. So we leave this imprecatory prayer upon the altar, confident that the Spirit Himself who searches the heart delivers our prayer, and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

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