Psalm 53

For the leader; according to Mahalath. A maskil of David.

I
The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They act corruptly and practice injustice;
there is none that does good.

God looks out from the heavens
upon the children of Adam,
To see if there is a discerning person
who is seeking God.

All have gone astray;
each one is altogether perverse.
There is not one who does what is good, not even one.

II
Do they not know better, those who do evil,
who feed upon my people as they feed upon bread?
Have they not called upon God?

They are going to fear his name with great fear,
though they had not feared it before.
For God will scatter the bones
of those encamped against you.
They will surely be put to shame,
for God has rejected them.

III
Who will bring forth from Zion
the salvation of Israel?
When God reverses the captivity of his people
Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad.^h

This is essentially the good news, right? It seems that the psalmist is just reminding us that God will protect his people. God will strike fear in the enemies of His people.

Do you ever wish that were true? Have you ever felt threatened by someone and prayed for God’s protection? Or do these accounts of God striking down the enemies seem too abstract to apply to our actual daily lives?

Seriously, I have a hard time picturing God causing harm to someone, directly, even if they are hurting others. It seems that those things only happened in the Old Testament, right? I don’t imagine God like that.

I prefer to think about the mercy and grace of God. If he will forgive me no matter how I sin, won’t he do the same for everyone? …even my enemies? Even people who commit evil acts in this world started out as God’s children. Jeremiah told us that God said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Certainly, that includes everyone, even people who later went astray.

Instead of praying for God to wreak havoc on our enemies, I wonder if we could find the grace to pray for God to heal them. Instead of wishing for destruction to come to those we fear, maybe we can find the courage to pray for God to turn their hearts.

This actually sounds like a good idea for a Lenten practice. For the remainder of Lent, whenever we are faced with someone who would treat us badly, our reaction will be to say a prayer for that person. How does that sound? What would that do to our general demeanor for the rest of the season?

I suppose I am throwing this out as a challenge for us all. Actually, I am borrowing the challenge from Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44) I pray that we will find ourselves closer to Jesus as we heed his call.