Psalm 83
Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.
Psalm 83 is an imprecatory Psalm, a prayer for God’s divine curse on his enemies. Below are several articles that help us understand how to pray these Psalms:
Praying the Imprecatory Psalms
When was the last time you, in your prayers, addressed God as the psalmist does: “O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance,” and then asked Him to “Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!” (Psalm 94:1-2)?
What’s going on? Are these tar pits we need to avoid as we make our way through the green pastures and still waters of the Psalms’ landscape? A while back I encouraged my congregation to begin praying the psalms because doing so would enrich their prayer life, give greater variety to their prayers, and increase their vocabulary concerning God and what they pray for. I put together a schedule of praying through the Psalms in 100 days. Some in the congregation expressed to me their discomfort when they would come upon these imprecatory sections. They didn’t know what to do with them. What do you do when you get to passages like these? We wonder what sentiments like that are even doing in the Bible.
Three more articles on this topic you may find helpful:
The Story of Iran’s Church in Two Sentences
Everyone loves a good story. As Christians, we especially love stories that tell us how, when all seems lost, God makes a way.
One such story is about the church in Iran—and it’s one of the greatest stories in the world today.
It’s a simple story that can be summarized in just two sentences: Persecution threatened to wipe out Iran’s tiny church. Instead, the church in Iran has become the fastest growing in the world, and it is influencing the region for Christ.
WHAT THE PRO-CHOICE AND PRO-LIFE MISS ABOUT SIMONE BILES
As Simone Biles was clinching yet another gold medal in Rio, people on both sides of the abortion debate were pointing to her achievements and background as a justification for their position.
But both miss out on a very important fact: Simone Biles has value not because she is a young woman inspiring the world or because she is a world champion gymnast who was adopted as a child. Simone has value simply because she is Simone.