Arise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
These are a couple of verses found in the earlier chapters of Psalms. They are followed by many chapters and many more verses that say very similar things. Strike my enemies, banish my enemies, rise up in rage against my enemies, etc, etc. I have been taught from when I was a child to "Love your enemies, Bless those who persecute you, Turn the other cheek." That is after all what the New Testament teaches. My question is, where do the above verses fit in with what the NT teaches? Am I just to disregard these verses? Am I to choose when to love and when to wish destruction? I don't think so. I think that these verses are meant to teach us. I think they are there for a reason. I have been wrestling with these verses for some time now and I believe that one of the reasons these verses are in scripture are to teach us just how much our Holy God hates sin, to help us hate sin more. These verses are never aimed at Christians, but at pagans. People who reject God and love sin. I don't believe that we are to think this was in today's society. We are to have a NT love for our enemies. I would love some of your input on why you believe God put those verses in the Psalms! Let us grow together in the Lord!
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