How God Answers Our Prayers to Destroy Our Enemies

Károly Ferenczy: Joseph Sold into Slavery by his Brothers. Public Domain

Some of the psalms are very human and raw.

Some songs to God are full of complaints, pleas, and desperate cries resolving themselves in faith. The temptation is not to sing them because they are not holy enough, not pious enough, rough, raw, guttural, and bleeding from the soul.

But the example of wisdom literature scripture is to let it out and let it resolve itself in the singing and praying of it.

It is the path of healing for ourselves and others.

God can deal with our detractors. It is not our battle - not ours alone - not ours primarily. The haughty thing they have you. God is about to turn the tables.

" I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.

Let not those rejoice over me
who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye
who hate me without cause.
For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, “Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!” - Psalm 35:18-21 (ESV)

God is in the moment, speaking, acting, drawing near to us.

What is the meaning of my moments and movement beyond the movement of the moment?

Perhaps, God is answering our prayer to destroy our enemies by making them our brothers and sisters again.

Consider the time when Joseph is in Egypt and his brothers come to him, now the governor, not knowing who he is, seeking food.

Sometimes, we get to see both sides of the drama of oppression and the need for healing on both sides.

In Genesis, the story of Joseph crescendos with this dance he choreographs to reconnect with the brothers who dealt so treacherously with him years before.

It is a dance of healing, restoration, reconciliation, and new beginnings for Joseph and for his brothers.

He plays a game with them, not for the purpose of teasing or toying with. On the contrary. He is taking himself and them through a process of discovery and healing.

Perhaps they have tried daily to forget what they had done in tiny moments of forgetfulness. But they cannot ultimately forget.

Nor can they know fully the pain and possibilities that were pregnant in their choices. When Joseph "sets them up," they are confronted with a question that is deeper than the moment:

" ... Joseph said to them, 'What deed is this that you have done?'" - Genesis 44:15 (ESV)

In fact, the deed they had most immediately done was none - none that would indict them.

They are different men at that day than the men who sold their brother as a slave, but their transformation is not complete until the reconciliation is transacted and Joseph was confront them as much as they must be confronted ....

And they must confront the question that has ultimately brought them to this moment, "What have you done?"

It is, in the long run, a redemptive question and it is ours. It is mine? What is the meaning of my moments and movement beyond the movement of the moment?

What is the meaning of my life in an honest and full assessment of my life?

What would it mean apart from redemption? What does it mean in the light of redemption?

God is our protector, our advocate, and our most enthusiastic ally ... but He also has a purpose for those for whom we pray ruin and destruction. In our either/or world, it is hard to comprehend. But we can lean into both realities with faith and seeking.

This is our moment for reflection.