Imprecatory Prayer

Lamentations 3:58-66

As we read through the last nine verses of this chapter, we will see a common theme. Jeremiah is seeking for God to avenge Him. In Lamentations 3:59, Jeremiah says, “O Lord, You have seen how I am wronged; judge my case.” Jeremiah is not trying to get revenge for himself; he is not imagining himself getting back at these people in some way. Instead he asks God to avenge him for he knows that God is a righteous and just judge. God sees Jeremiah’s situation and is not ignoring it, something Jeremiah discovered (or perhaps rediscovered) earlier in this chapter.

Jeremiah cries out for God to do something about these enemies. They whisper against (3:62) and form schemes (3:61) to attack him. Their day seems to revolve around hurting and mocking Jeremiah (3:63). Yet Jeremiah continues to ask God to avenge instead of becoming hateful or bitter towards them. He wants justice. He wants the sins that they have committed against him to come back and bite them.

Lamentations 3:66 is a very interesting way to end the chapter. Of course, Jeremiah did not end the chapter here; he did not add chapters and verses and divisions. But Jeremiah asks that God “pursue and destroy them.” It seems like Jeremiah has finished bitter towards these enemies. These types of prayers are called “imprecatory prayers”, which means to call down curses on a person or people. If you read through the psalms you will see David also pray imprecatory prayers against his enemies (see Psalm 69:22-28; 109:6-20). He sought for God to destroy the wicked just as Jeremiah does here. But what should we take from this?

I don’t believe we ought to pray for the destruction of others or for the death of others (as David prays in Psalm 109). We are called to love our enemies and to bless those who curse us (Matthew 5:44). I don’t take these prayers as prayers that ought to be replicated by us today.

What I will note is that, just as Jeremiah, David did not seek to destroy these enemies himself. He may not have had the power to destroy these enemies at the time but at some point, when he became king, he did. But David did not, as far as we know, get revenge on his enemies. He let God avenge him. David showed this when he had the opportunity to kill King Saul twice (1 Samuel 24; 26). He did not take matters into his own hands and get revenge when he had the opportunity.

Jeremiah and David both sought the glory of God. They hated sin and wanted it to be dealt with by God. They cried out for God to avenge them and to repay them for their sins. I don’t believe that Jeremiah had his own self solely in mind when he penned these words, I believe he desired God’s justice to be done for His Names sake. I get that from the last phrase, “from under the heavens of the Lord.” He was desperate for the glory of God just as we ought to be desperate for the glory of God. He hated sin and did not want to see it go unpunished, just as we should hate sin and not want to see it go unpunished. I am not talking about only wanting mercy and grace for ourselves, because we should want grace and mercy for others, but if an unbeliever always receives grace and mercy then why would they not continue to go on sinning? The best chance for the unsaved to be made aware of their sin and of a just God is by receiving God’s just punishment for their sin.

This finally concludes our series on Lamentations 3. This chapter has taught us to wait on God, and how we can find insurmountable peace and joy where once we felt alone, forsaken, and depressed. We learned we ought to cry out to God when we are hurting and ask Him “why?” (not in a heart of pride but in humility, genuinely seeking an answer) because He wants us to talk to Him. We learned today that we ought to be desperate for God’s glory and seek Him to avenge us and the sins of this world rather than trying to take matters into our own hands. We learned that even when our circumstances remain the same we can have a 180 degree view of them. We learned that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Lamentations is one of the most difficult books to read because there is so much pain and hurt. After all, it is Jeremiah’s lament, a lament that God inspired so that we could see others who were hurt and suffering and still find that unbelievable peace and joy and closeness to God. The darkest and the lowest places become the brightest and the highest when we feel that supernatural closeness to God. I have heard it said by others and experienced it myself. Nobody looks forward to suffering, but everyone who has experienced the closeness to God while suffering, a closeness that can only exist when we remain faithful, yearns for it again. It is a closeness that far outweighs the hurt. It is a closeness we get to experience for eternity in heaven!

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