Shocking Prayers and Promises

Scripture Focus: Psalm 109.6-8
6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser stand at his right hand. 
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. 
8 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

Reflection: Shocking Prayers and Promises
By John Tillman

You’ll probably never hear Psalm 109 or other imprecatory psalms read in church. The condemnations are harsh. The cries for violent retribution are unsettling. Is this praying or cursing?

When the suffering cry out, they don’t consider the feelings of those listening. They chuck civility and cordiality out the window. They employ emotional language and evocative metaphors. They abandon the vocabulary of propriety and politeness. They may even go beyond cursing to “cussing.”

Imagine yourself standing in front of someone shouting out the curses and demands of this psalm…

If you are like me, you probably picture yourself giving one of two responses: disengagement or discouragement. You want to get away from them or tell them to calm down.

“Be respectful.” “Ask nicely and I’ll listen.” “I can’t be around you when you are like this.”

God responds differently. God turns his ear to them. God leans closer. God joins them in their suffering. God’s face looks on them with compassion. God’s hands lift them up and punish their oppressors.

We are not God. We are incapable of his level of listening, patience, empathy, and compassion.

When people protest loudly, we say, “Be quiet.” When they protest at inconvenient times, we say, “Not now.” When they protest in our faces, we say, “Back off.” When they protest in our spaces, we say, “Get out.”

We are also powerless to enact the fullness of God’s justice and righteousness.

There are problems we cannot comprehend. There are oppressors we cannot correct. There are powers we cannot oppose. There are wrongs we cannot make right.

We can, however, lean on the listening, patient, empathetic, compassionate heart of God revealed in scripture. We can work for the problem-solving, corrective, overcoming, good-creating justice and righteousness revealed in scripture. That is what the psalmist is doing.

The psalmist’s cry, “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow,” (Psalm 109.9) echoes a promise of God from Exodus 22.24 and Jeremiah 18.21. It is God who promised to punish those who harm the vulnerable. We can pray shocking prayers.

Are you hesitant to hear out the hurting?
When the suffering won’t be silent, do you shut your ears?
When the abused are red-faced with anger and shame, do you turn your face away?
When the oppressed open their mouths with curses, do you open the door and leave?


Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. — Psalm 85.10

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Isaiah 10.5-34 (Listen 5:14)
Psalm 106 (Listen 4:52)

​This Weekend’s Readings
Isaiah  11-12 (Listen 3:39), Acts 1 (Listen 3:5802)
Isaiah  13 (Listen 3:11), Acts 2 (Listen 6:35)

Read more about An Imprecatory Psalm for Mass Shootings
I went to church…As normal, I paused to think about what I should do in case of a shooting…This shouldn’t be normal.

Read more about Wartime Prayers
Imprecatory prayers become expressions of trust in God our Father…not only powerful but…just and loving.

Helping Fathers and the Fatherless

Psalm 109.9-12
May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven from their ruined homes.
May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.

Reflection: Helping Fathers and the Fatherless
By John Tillman

People of David’s time understood that fatherlessness was a known cause of suffering for children and families. If children were fatherless, they were expected to be poor, wandering beggars. God’s people are commanded to be compassionate to widows and orphans precisely because God knew and cared for their hardship. 

What David may not have foreseen, however, is that today’s fatherless children would suffer not only the disinterest of society but the disinterest of their own fathers. Most of the fatherless children in David’s day knew that it was the horrors of war or exile or accident that had taken their fathers away unwillingly. Today’s fatherless often are left fatherless by choice not by catastrophe. They aren’t orphans of war, but of willful abandonment.

According to Vincent Dicaro at the National Fatherhood Initiative, fatherhood in the United States has made some gains in recent years, but not for everyone.

“While it is true that among middle-class families, father involvement is looking very good, it is also true that America has record levels of father absence, a crisis that mainly affects lower-income families. In fact, 24 million children, 1 out of every 3, lives in a home in which their biological father does not live. That rate is closer to 2 out of 3 in the African American community. And among those children living in father-absent homes, 1/3 have no contact with their dads, and another 1/3 have contact once per month or less.

So, the picture is actually quite bleak in too many communities across the country.” 


Fathers in our communities need the church’s help and support, not our judgment. The fatherless are in our communities not to suffer for the sins of their parents, but that we might have an opportunity to demonstrate the love of God, their true Father.

May we, along with introducing our communities to God the Father, introduce them to a definition and example of fatherhood that is based on the love that God has shown us.

May we work to ensure that the benefits of fatherhood and the resources needed to be a good father are spread to all levels of our communities.

May we lovingly bless the fatherless in our communities knowing that they are not there because of the sin of themselves or their parents, but that through them we might show the glory of God.

Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Come now and see the works of God, how wonderful he is in his doings toward all people. — Psalm 66.5

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 19 (Listen – 3:04) 
Psalm 106 (Listen – 4:52) 

This Weekend’s Readings
Deuteronomy 20 (Listen – 2:55), Psalm 107 (Listen – 4:12) 
Deuteronomy 21 (Listen – 3:33), Psalm 108-109 (Listen – 4:28) 

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Read more about Fatherhood’s Collapse, Love’s Destruction
Our view of love is anemic because our view of fatherhood is so damaged. It is God’s fatherhood that gives the depth, intimacy, and love we desire most

Read more about The Father of Fathers
You are the Father all fathers should be.
Gentle. Caring. Loving. Righteous. Just.