Calling God to Violence – Psalm 83

²     For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;

And those who hate You have lifted up their head.

³     They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,

And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.^[1]

¹³   O my God, make them like the whirling dust,

Like the chaff before the wind!

¹⁴   As the fire burns the woods,

And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,

¹⁵   So pursue them with Your tempest,

And frighten them with Your storm.

¹⁶   Fill their faces with shame,

That they may seek Your name, O Lord.

¹⁷   Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;

Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,

¹⁸   That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord,

Are the Most High over all the earth.^[2]

I love praying the Psalms because they capture how I feel and become my prayer to God. Psalm 83 is so awesome because it doesn’t mince around. The context is the nations are trying to destroy Israel (some things don’t change ☹). This is a call to God to rise up to violence against people who are out to get them. There are some pretty horrible people who deserve this prayed against them. This morning I prayed this prayer with violent intent.

What I love about God is that he is so much more than an insipid being wringing his hands helplessly watching evil reign over the vulnerable. He cares. He sees. He hears. He acts. 

If you have someone preying on you then take up these words and unleash them. Trust that God will act in the best way possible. They will get what they deserve on way or another, either now or later. You are not helpless nor hopeless when you cry out to God in the midst of calamity brought upon you by those who are malevolent. 

Photo by Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash

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^[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 83:2–3). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

^[2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 83:13–18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.