I imagine that anyone who makes regular use of the Psalms in their devotional life has had the experience of stumbling over sentiments that seem … less than edifying, or even un-Christian.

For instance, last night I was reading Psalm 109, following the old-style scheme for praying the Psalms in the Book of Common Prayer, and was struck by vss. 1-19:

Hold not your tongue, O God of my praise; *
for the mouth of the wicked,
the mouth of the deceitful, is opened against me.

They speak to me with a lying tongue; *
they encompass me with hateful words
and fight against me without a cause.

Despite my love, they accuse me; *
but as for me, I pray for them.

They repay evil for good, *
and hatred for my love.

Set a wicked man against him, *
and let an accuser stand at his right hand.

When he is judged, let him be found guilty, *
and let his appeal be in vain.

Let his days be few, *
and let another take his office.

Let his children be fatherless, *
and his wife become a widow.

Let his children be waifs and beggars; *
let them be driven from the ruins of their homes.

Let the creditor seize everything he has; *
let strangers plunder his gains.

Let there be no one to show him kindness, *
and none to pity his fatherless children.

Let his descendants be destroyed, *
and his name be blotted out in the next generation.

Let the wickedness of his fathers be remembered before
the LORD, *
and his mother’s sin not be blotted out;

Let their sin be always before the LORD; *
but let him root out their names from the earth;

Because he did not remember to show mercy, *
but persecuted the poor and needy
and sought to kill the brokenhearted.

He loved cursing,
let it come upon him; *
he took no delight in blessing,
let it depart from him.

He put on cursing like a garment, *
let it soak into his body like water
and into his bones like oil;

Let it be to him like the cloak which he
wraps around himself, *
and like the belt that he wears continually.

Let this be the recompense from the LORD to my accusers, *
and to those who speak evil against me.

I realize there are other “cursing” Psalms, but this is one long, serious curse, and I was struck more than usually by how hard it is to see these as sentiments that should be prayed.

Sometimes, when I come across passages where the Psalmist is protesting his innocence, I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s insight that Christ is here praying the Psalms with us and in us, and we are praying them in him. Only he can truly claim to be innocent.

But in this case, the extended cursing seems entirely removed from the spirit of Jesus, who prayed on the cross that his enemies be forgiven. And yet, thinking about that, I could see this curse as something that, by most normal human standards, Jesus would have been eminently justified in hurling at his enemies! But he didn’t, and therein seemed to be a lesson. The contrast between the cursing of the Psalmist and the forgiving love of Jesus caused the latter to stand out for me in starker relief than ususal.

And this is driven home even further when I reflect on how often I succumb to the temptation to curse other people in my heart (though not nearly as eloquently as the Psalmist!) for offenses, real or perceived, that are, at their worst, trivial compared both to Jesus’ suffering and to the suffering and oppression that the Psalmist may well have experienced (not to mention all those who suffer in our world today). I can see my own petty resentments reflected in the Psalmist’s curse and, like a photo negative, the suffering love of Jesus.