Steve McCoy is pastor of South Newington Baptist Church in Bloomingdale, Georgia. They recently had a burglar sneak into their church, break into the church safe, and steal the offerings. Many church members think it had to be somebody in the church who knew where the safe was. They are furious.

   Have you ever felt betrayed? Have you wondered how to pray, especially how to pray for your enemies?

   David gives us a model in Psalm 109. This is one of the “imprecatory” psalms, perhaps one of the strongest.  Perhaps this psalm was written after his son Absalom took over his throne and he had to flee. One of David’s top advisers, Ahithophel, became a turn-coat traitor who stayed behind with the new king to give him advice. How could David pray about Ahithophel? All along the road a man named Shimei screamed at David and his fleeing men, throwing rocks and them and shouting curses. How could David pray about Shimei?

   How can you pray for those who betray you and attack you? The psalm gives us four principles when praying for enemies:

I.                  Our reliance must be on God (v. 1).

   He begins with God, “whom I praise.” God is the one upon he trusts, the one he calls upon.

    When praying about your enemies, don’t begin by talking about how bad your enemies are. Begin by talking about how good God is.

II.                Our reasons must be clear (v. 2-5, 16-20).

   Next, he lists the reasons for praying about the wicked. He clearly tells exactly what they have done. They lied (v. 2), they attacked him without cause (v. 3), they returned his friendship for false accusation ( v. 4), they repaid him evil for good and hatred for friendship (v. 5).

   In verse 6 he actually uses the Hebrew word satan for "accuser."

   They mistreated the poor (v. 16) and they pronounced curses (v. 17-18).

   When praying about your enemies, be specific about what your enemies have done to you.

III.             Our retribution must be based in God’s word (v. 6-29).

   This is the key part of this prayer. David prays for justice against his enemy. But notice that everything he asks God to do, has already revealed in God’s word to be God’s will.

   In verse 6, David prays that his enemy will get a taste of his own medicine, and in verse 7 he asks that his prayers condemn him. Proverbs 28:9 reveals that if anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.

   In verse 8, David prays, “may his days be few, may another take his place of leadership.” Psalm 37:38 says, “But all sinners will be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.” This verse was quoted in Acts 1:20 when Judas Iscariot committed suicide and the apostles chose a new apostle to take his place.

   Verses 9-12 seem inexcusably harsh to us, to pray that his orphaned children and widowed wife be driven into poverty and that he receive no pity, nor his children. Yet we will notice in verse 16 that this enemy refused to show kindness himself, and hounded the poor himself, and again David is praying for the boomerang of justice. Is it possible pray for your enemy’s children to suffer? After all, God’s word calls for kindness to the orphan and widow. He may have in mind that the children who follow the evil lifestyle of their wicked parents, as Isaiah 9:17 says that the Lord will not pity the fatherless and widows of the wicked.

   Verse 13 prays for his descendants to be cut off, but again we must remember that Psalm 37:38 says the future of the wicked will be cut off.

   This puts verse 14 in context, that the children of the wicked will remember the sin of their father and mother and learn from the error of their ways, rather than repeat their sin. Thus the prayer leaves open the possibility of mercy for those children of the wicked who learn the error of their parent’s ways.

    Notice one another prayer of retribution in verse 29, when he prays that his accusers will be “clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame…” We read in Daniel 12:2 reminds us that while the righteous will rise to eternal life, the wicked will rise to “shame” and everlasting contempt.

   So as harsh as this prayer sounds, every retribution he prays can be found somewhere in God’s word. If you are going to pray against your enemies, make certain that what you pray is based upon God’s revealed will in His word.

IV.              Our result must be salvation (v. 30-31).

   Finally, notice the end of the prayer, that he praises God, for God “stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him.” So the conclusion of the prayer is to save a life, not to take a life. And when we pray for our enemies, the end result for us should also be salvation.

   Scripture says in Ezekiel 33:11 that the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and in 2 Peter 3:9 that God does not desire any to perish, but all to come to repentance. So even as we pray for justice against our enemies, we should always pray for their salvation.

  Remember how I told you at the beginning of this blog that somebody stole the safe a South Newington Baptist Church?

   I talked to the pastor, Steve McCoy, this week. Church members were furious, and since they believe it was an inside job, there is a lot of speculation about how it could be. Several members have angrily talked about how they would love to get their hands on the person who did it.

   The pastor’s reaction was to tell the congregation, “I’m praying for whoever did this, because I believe they not saved. My prayer is that the person who did this will be convicted of their sin and walk down this aisle and accept Jesus Christ as Savior.”

   Pastor McCoy understands how to pray for your enemies. That should be the end result: salvation.