Some people get the idea that God is grumpy in the Old Testament and He develops a more tempered, loving personality in the New Testament. But that is not true. God has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. If anyone has changed, mankind has changed. And the laws at work have changed to coincide with the deeper work of Jesus achieved on the cross. How God works with man has changed because the cross changed everything. Jesus fulfilled the law and ushered in a much deeper understanding of the true heart of God.
I ran into this dilemma the other day while reading Psalm 109. Given some difficult situations in my professional life right now, I find myself thinking about particular people while I read the psalmist calling for wrath and curses to overtake his enemies. My heart resounded with the words as I hoped the same things happened to those I was angry with. But I quickly realized that this way of thinking does not line up with what Jesus said about how a Christian should treat their enemies.
A godly man prayed the following in Psalm 109, "For wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me they have spoken against me with lying tongues. With words of hatred they surround me they attack me without cause... Appoint an evil man to oppose him let an accuser stand at his right hand...May his days be few may another take his place of leadership. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children."
These are very harsh words. The psalmist is calling for bitter wrath to fall on his enemies. There isn't even of mercy in his thoughts. I find this hard to reconcile with the teachings of Christ. Jesus said the following, "Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Luke 6:35).
Psalms 109 and Luke 6:35 seem worlds apart. Why would God call the Israelites to slaughter their enemies? But in the New Testament, Jesus tells Peter to put away His sword. Why these seemingly contrary responses of wrath and mercy from the same God? These are hard questions.
For starters, while all the words in the Bible are inspired, not all the attitudes of the men in the Bible are holy. We see both the greatest hits and the bloopers. God shows us the inner emotions and conflicts of even the godliest leaders. Sometimes the people in the Bible make mistakes in how they respond to situations in life and even their recorded prayers about them.
Secondly, the psalmist operated under a different covenant. When Jesus came, He fulfilled the first covenant and ushered in a new reality. Believers today are to be guided by the law of the Spirit of life. We are to follow the directions set by Jesus as He preached the Sermon on the Mount. (See Matthew 5) My friend, Jeff McBee, pointed this out. The new covenant focuses on mercy and God's grace during this age. One day, God will come and punish all evil doers. We are to leave the administration of wrath unto Him. Until the time that God's judgment is unleashed on sinful men, we are called to encourage others to repent and receive the forgiveness of God.
Like the psalmist, we are to ultimately pray for destruction on our enemies. We need to keep in mind that our real enemies are not people put evil spirits and demonic principalities. We wage war against the forces of darkness not other people that one day may become part of God's family.
