Psalm 109

Let's read the whole thing:

Psalm 109
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 My God, whom I praise,
    do not remain silent,
2 for people who are wicked and deceitful
    have opened their mouths against me;
    they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
3 With words of hatred they surround me;
    they attack me without cause.
4 In return for my friendship they accuse me,
    but I am a man of prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
    and hatred for my friendship.
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.
9 May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven[a] from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off,
    their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
    may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the Lord,
    that he may blot out their name from the earth.
16 For he never thought of doing a kindness,
    but hounded to death the poor
    and the needy and the brokenhearted.
17 He loved to pronounce a curse—
    may it come back on him.
He found no pleasure in blessing—
    may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,
    into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
    like a belt tied forever around him.
20 May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
    to those who speak evil of me.
21 But you, Sovereign Lord,
    help me for your name’s sake;
    out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;
    I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way from fasting;
    my body is thin and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, Lord my God;
    save me according to your unfailing love.
27 Let them know that it is your hand,
    that you, Lord, have done it.
28 While they curse, may you bless;
    may those who attack me be put to shame,
    but may your servant rejoice.
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
    and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
    in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
    to save their lives from those who would condemn them

I have to confess I could easily pray that prayer about certain media groups at this very moment. But I would rather choose to ask the Lord to open the eyes of my enemy and bring him to repentance. There are many places in the Old Testament where it appears harsh.

I sought God's wisdom this evening on how to address Dirk's concerns about this prayer of king David. When we consider what David was going through at the time he wrote this, with having to be on the run, hiding in caves and fearful for his life due to Saul seeking to kill him. This prayer becomes more like David sharing his anguish about his situation with God. It is still left up to God to accept and act upon this request or not.

We also need to consider the ideas and beliefs people had back then. And David must have believed that God would curse his enemies if he asked God to do so.

The nice thing for us is that we have the full picture of God's plans and even through the writings of David's son Solomon we get great wisdom of how to treat and speak to one another. That's why Proverbs is a very important old testament book to study and read over and over again.

The takeaway on this is that God listens to all our prayers even if it's just to talk to him about a person you feel is tormenting you. And God in His infinite wisdom will give you insights on how to proceed with this person as he had done when king David had laid this prayer at God's feet.