Okay, so my nephew is in 7th grade. He is 12 and has a 12 year old girlfriend. This young girl sent him full frontal naked pictures of her breasts. What in the world is happening? How would you proceed? As a parent of the young boy, do you contact the young girl’s family? In today’s society, it is much more of a difficult question as you just don’t know what environment the girl lives in. I feel as a parent of such a young girl putting her naked body on the internet I would want to know so I could protect her from making the mistake again. Why the hesitancy to connect the family’s together to handle this intimate matter? I am at a loss on how to handle anything anymore.
So, another controversial topic. One kind of prayer is called imprecatory prayers. “Some react to the harsh language of the imprecatory psalms. While this is understandable, we mustn’t lose sight of what our sin deserves. Others underscore the teaching of Jesus to love our enemies. But loving our enemies in the New Testament never comes at the expense of forgoing appeals to divine justice. Praying for God to punish the wicked is neither unloving nor vindictive but is an expression of faith in Him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). Still others want to limit the imprecatory psalms to old covenant Israel. While the circumstances of God’s covenant people have changed with the advent of Christ, the same cruelties that plagued Israel as a believing people in a hostile world still haunt the church today. If we remove the vocabulary of the imprecatory psalms from our homes and churches, what else will Christians sing and pray when tragedy strikes?” (Dr. John W. Tweeddale).
Imprecatory prayers are not praying with a cold heart seeking revenge and damnation on others. It is a prayer that begins with asking God to save people, to change them, to move them, and if none of those prayers work then like King David when he prays that God would crush his enemies underfoot.
“Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them. May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt” (Psalm 69: 20-26).
“For he never thought of doing kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted. He loved to pronounce a curse–may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing–may it be far from him. He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil. May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him. May this be the Lord’s around him. May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of met” (Psalm 109: 16-20).
In the 15th chapter of the gospel of John, the apostle John uses imprecatory words when he retells the story of the vine and the branches. God is the gardener. Jesus spoke that He was the Vine and there are two kinds of branches. One that follows him and bears fruit, but the other branch bears no fruit so those branches will be cut away from the vine. So the point is that it is better to be saved, changed, and moved to follow Christ. Then in verse 18 the title is “the world hates the disciples.”
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15: 18-19).
The apostle Paul also used David’s Imprecatory prayer along with connecting back to the branches that get nourished by the vine and the branches that reject that nourishment would be broken off from the vine. All branches are given the opportunity to grow from the vine, but if not then those branches wither, die, and are broken away from the vine.
“And David says: May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever” (Romans 11: 9-10).
“You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that they could be grafted in.’ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either (Romans 11: 21).
Prayers for this world today. Prayers for families who are struggling to keep the innocence of their kids. May we reach out to kids to not side with the world, but keep their hearts tender to God’s words. Prayers for peace to overcome war.
Dreamsdontfade.com (more writings available on my blog this week)
There is no describing CeCe Winan's voice. Such a beautiful songbird. I listened to this song so many times over the past 2 weeks and the melody of "holy, holy, holy forever" just replayed in my mind. Let the words wash over you today.
If you've been forgiven
And if you've been redeemed
Sing the song forever
To the Lamb
If you walk in freedom
And if you bear His name
Sing the song forever
To the Lamb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcFM9CBiOE