A Hard Prayer For A Hard Time Series

A Hard Prayer for a Hard Time: Crying Out for God's Justice

Introduction: A Difficult Psalm

Some psalms are like gentle streams; they comfort and refresh our souls. Others are like a roaring fire, speaking of God's majesty and glory. And then there are psalms like Psalm 58. This psalm is a raging storm. It is raw, harsh, and uncomfortable. It contains prayers so severe that they can shock our modern ears. It is not a psalm we are likely to put on a coffee mug or a greeting card.

But it is in the Bible for a reason. It is God's gift to us for those moments when we are overwhelmed by the injustice of the world. What do you do when you see corrupt leaders perverting justice? What is your prayer when the wicked seem to prosper at every turn, leaving a trail of violence and sorrow? What do you cry out to God when it feels as though evil is winning?

Psalm 58 is the prayer for that moment. It is a hard prayer for a hard time, and it teaches us how to cry out for God's divine justice when human justice has completely failed.

Text: Psalm 58

I. The Indictment of Injustice (v. 1-5)

1. David begins not with a whisper, but with a direct confrontation.

He calls out the corrupt judges and rulers of his day: "Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?" The question is rhetorical, and the answer is a resounding no. "Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth." They were not merely failing at their jobs; their very hearts were factories of wickedness, and their "work" was to unleash violence upon the world.

2. David then diagnoses their spiritual condition.

This is not a recent problem; it is an inherent part of their nature. He says, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." He uses two powerful images to describe them.

First, their words are like "the poison of a serpent." Their speech is not just wrong; it is deadly and corrupting.

Second, they are like "the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers." This is a picture of willful, stubborn evil. They are not just ignorant of the truth; they actively plug their ears to it. They are un-charmable, unchangeable, and completely closed off to the voice of reason and righteousness.

This psalm validates our outrage when we see leaders who are not just mistaken, but who seem venomous and willfully deaf to justice.

2. The Appeal for Intervention (v. 6-9)

Having diagnosed the problem, David turns to the only solution: God Himself. And here we find the hard prayers, the imprecations. He cries out, "Break their teeth in their mouth, O God: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD."

What are we to make of such a violent prayer? We must understand three things.

1. This is a prayer, not a plan of action.

David is not forming a mob or taking revenge into his own hands. He is surrendering the entire situation to the only one who has the right and the wisdom to execute perfect justice.

2. This is poetic language.

The prayer to "break their teeth" is a prayer to render them powerless. A lion with no teeth can no longer devour. It is a cry for God to disarm the wicked and stop them from causing more harm. The prayers for them to "melt away as waters" or dissolve like a "snail which melteth" are cries for their evil influence and their wicked enterprises to completely disappear.

3. This is a prayer for the end of evil's reign. It is an appeal from a place of righteous desperation, asking God to intervene so swiftly and decisively that wickedness is utterly overthrown. When we are faced with systemic, deaf, and venomous evil, this psalm gives us the language to cry out to God: "Lord, act! Do something so final and so complete that this evil can harm no more!"

III. The Vindication of Justice (v. 10-11)

The psalm ends by explaining the purpose behind this difficult prayer. Why should God act so decisively? The final verses tell us: "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance... So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth."

1. The rejoicing of the righteous is not a cruel delight in the suffering of others.

It is the profound joy and relief that comes when justice, long overdue, finally prevails. It is the celebration of a community when a tyrant is removed. It is the deep satisfaction of seeing God's moral order affirmed.