What do you do with prayers that ask God to let the children of the wicked become vagabonds (Psa. 109:10)? Or with verses that seem too harsh to read in a public gathering without explanation (e.g., Psa. 137:9)? To benefit from these psalms, we must understand their place in God’s unfolding plan of salvation. Consider Psalm 58, which helps us to see the heart of judgment psalms: the reality of radical injustice and God’s response to it. Its author, David, was a righteous man who communed closely with God in Christ but was persecuted by the wicked. This man after God’s own heart shared God’s hatred of sin. Imprecatory psalms will make little sense to nominal Christians, but they resonate profoundly with those who, like David, grieve over injustice. Far from being embarrassing remnants of an outdated theology, these psalms help us live faithfully before God’s face in a world where evil still thrives.
