Psalm 109:1-2 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
Honest Praying
All of us have had people do us wrong, and all of us have done wrong to other people. Perhaps you are living in hurt because someone has done great wrong to you. What is your best wish for your worst enemy? Psalm 109 is an imprecatory psalm where David is praying ill on his enemies. It is scathing in its severity. If you look at verse 8 he says, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” That is one of the kinder prayers that David had toward his enemies. It is poetic ferocity.
In verse 1 David says to God, “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise.” David wants God to speak in this matter. In verse 2 he says “For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.”
Then David says, “But I give myself unto prayer.” This is perhaps the most beautiful part of a psalm that is not exactly beautiful. But what it lacks for in beauty it makes up for in honesty.
I don’t know fully what to say about the imprecatory psalms. I would say that honest praying is a relief for the soul. We would speak less angrily to others if we would speak more honestly to God. Psalm 109 is just as honest as it can be toward God about David’s enemies.
What is the upshot of David’s honest praying? Verse 30 says, “I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth.” So he prays and praises with his mouth.
How angrily are you speaking to others today? We can handle people who have done us wrong by bottling our words up until there is an explosion brewing inside. We can become bitter and release harsh words towards those who have done us wrong.
But another alternative is to give ourselves unto prayer. I’m not suggesting you take Psalm 109 as your prayer to God. Romans 12 says that vengeance belongs to God. I am suggesting that God knows our heart anyway, and if you can’t be honest with God, then with whom can you be honest? Honest praying is a relief for the soul.