Psalm 137: Praying Our Hate
WE PUT ON our "Sunday best" in our prayers. But when we pray the prayers of God's people, the Psalms, we find that will not do. We must pray who we actually are, not who we think we should be. Here is a prayer that brings out not the best but the worst in us; vile, venomous, vicious hate.
Warming Up to God
Everyone has hated at one time or another. It is one of the basic human experiences. Be honest before God. Whom have you hated? Why?
Read Psalm 137. »
Discovering the Word
- This psalm combines the loveliest lyric we can sing with the ugliest emotion we can feel. What makes verses 1-6 lovely?
- What makes verses 7-9 ugly?
- Homesickness is understandable. Sometimes it is evidence of loyalty. Sometimes it is simply irresponsibility. Remembering your own experiences of this, how would you evaluate verses 4-6?
- The two dominant emotions in this prayer are self-pity (vv. 106) and avenging hate (vv. 7-9), neither of them particularly commendable. Praying our sins doesn't, as such, launder them. What does it do?
Applying the Word
- Jesus said "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you?" (Mt 5:44). How can we possibly love and pray for such people?
- Most of us suppress our negative emotions (unless, neurotically, we advertise them). The way of prayer is not to cover them up so we will appear respectable, but to expose them so we can be healed. What negative emotion would you like healed?
Responding in Prayer
Take any hate or dislike that you have uncovered and give it voice as you pray.
For Further Study
Psalms: Prayers of the Heart (LifeGuide Bible Study) by Eugene H. Peterson