As we read the Psalms, we run across passages like this,

rise up, O judge of the earth,

repay to the proud what they deserve.

Now we have to be very careful at this point, don't we?

Because it's easy when we come to moral outrage in the Scripture

to allow ourselves to be morally outraged on our own behalf.

And the Scripture says, no, no, no, no, no.

You're not to be morally outraged on your own behalf,

you're to be morally outraged on God's behalf.

They're called imprecatory Psalms,

praying for judgment against the wicked.

We read them and wonder, are we allowed to pray them?

Are we applied them to our circumstances?

Hello and welcome to renewing your mind, I'm Lee Webb.

There are instances when praying that way is appropriate.

But as Dr. Robert Godfrey reminds us, we need to be very careful.

We're continuing to look together at book four of the Psalter,

the book that is seeking comfort in the face of crisis.

And I was making the point in the last lecture that in book four,

very often comfort is sought by looking backward,

looking backward to God's faithfulness in creation,

looking backward to God's faithfulness in his covenant with Moses

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