When God Drags His Feet

Ask God to Humiliate His Enemies

Psalm 70:2-3

At the heart of the psalmist’s request is for his enemies to be ashamed, embarrassed, and perturbed over their efforts to oppose God and his people. Their defeat is not enough. The psalmist evidently looks toward a broader effect of God’s judgment against them. He wants others to see his vindication and, subsequently, to fear God. When God responds to his prayer, the psalmist wants the righteous to rejoice and the disobedient to dread.

Still, David’s petition certainly implies the utter defeat of those who are opposing him. His adversaries are described as those who mockingly say, “Aha, Aha!” Like an overconfident opponent in a professional wrestling match prior to the first bell, they taunt him and gloat with the arrogant expectation of his utter defeat. So David prays that they would be “turned back” by God’s hand, that his utter embarrassment of them would make them “retreat” in shameful defeat. Essentially, David is asking for God to once again flip the script on his enemies and turn their haughty heckling into their own humiliation.

Few commentators and other interpreters make any direct application of David’s prayer in these verses. On the surface it does seem strange for us to ask God to humiliate our enemies as opposed to just disciplining them. Even if we make direct application of the psalmist’s imprecations for God to wipe out his adversaries, it’s awkward to go to this extreme. After all, athletes are penalized for taunting their opponents. But once again the ultimate motive is the key. If all we want is for our enemies to see that we ultimately have the upper hand on them, then our motive is for our glory and honor, which is totally sinful and unacceptable. However, if our true desire is for the broader populace to see God’s hand and honor his name, then it’s perfectly good and right for us sometimes to pray for God to humiliate our enemies. The secret is that we pray for their humiliation out of the heartbeat of our own humility.

We once again should be reminded that to pray like this is to pray like Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). We know Jesus’s arrival will be characterized by the humiliation of those who’ve opposed him and his gospel. When Babylon the great falls in the book of Revelation, a voice from heaven says,

As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways, give her that much torment and grief. For she says in her heart, “I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.” For this reason her plagues will come in just one day—death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty. (Rev 18:7-8)

The arrogant boasting of the wicked one and his armies will be laid low for all to see. Their humiliation will be on display for everyone to behold and ponder (cf. Rev 18:9-20). When we pray for Jesus’s kingdom to come, we’re essentially praying for his enemies to be humiliated.

Ask God to Honor His Name

Psalm 70:4

Here’s where we find solid ground on which to ask God to hurry up. The obvious counterpart to the humiliation of God’s enemies is the honor of God’s name. So it’s perfectly natural for the psalmist to follow his request for the former with a request for the latter. He knows that the humiliating overthrow of God’s enemies will not only give relief to him but also will give joy to all “those who love [God’s] salvation” (v. 4). Ross observes, “The contrast is clear: shame for those who seek the life of the psalmist, joy for those who seek the Lord” (Ross, Psalms, vol. 2, 508).

Don’t miss, however, the object of the joy for which David is asking on behalf of God’s people. It’s not their deliverance, their enemies’ defeat, or even their joyful satisfaction itself. The end game for the psalmist is that God’s people will proclaim his greatness!

Herein lies another balance for us as we wrestle with the ethic of praying for God’s enemies to be humiliated. The glory of Christ and the glory of man cannot coexist. It’s one or the other. Either he is exalted and mankind is principally humbled, or mankind is exalted and he is perceived to be humbled. We know that our great and glorious Lord ultimately will not allow anyone to steal his glory; he’s the only one worthy of it. So, if he’s exalted, it follows that those who try to steal his glory will be humiliated.

Furthermore, our assignment to make disciples among all people is the practical pathway of declaring Christ’s glory among all nations (Ps 96:3; Matt 28:18-20; Rev 14:6-7). If we obediently follow his instructions, then the enemies of the gospel naturally will be humiliated. These words in Psalm 70 constitute another compelling argument for us to leverage all that we are and all that we have to proclaim Christ’s glory and gospel to all people. When we do so, the name of Christ is honored and gospel haters—by default—are humiliated. When we don’t, gospel haters are exalted, and the name of Christ—by default—is scorned. Our prayers for God’s enemies to be humiliated and his name to be honored go hand in hand. In essence, they’re two sides of the same coin.

Conclusion

Does God move too slowly for you sometimes? I often hear people say that when God answers prayer, he either says, “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait.” In this psalm David won’t take no for an answer (69:13), and he’s not big on the idea of waiting. His prayer here seems to teach us that we can press God about the timing of his answer as well as about the subject of our prayer. “When the ax is about to fall, there is no time for ‘Wait’” (Goldingay, Psalms 42–89, 361). When you’re in a jam, throw your pride to the wind and don’t be afraid to yell, “Help! Now!” But when you do, make sure your desperate cry is aired against the backdrop of a desire for God to be glorified among all people. That needs to be our ultimate motivation to secure his help sooner rather than later.

Reflect and Discuss