Is it appropriate for Christians to pray the imprecatory psalms against wicked rulers?

There comes a point when it is right to use those imprecatory psalms. I’d pray that God would save his soul, but that He would destroy the tyrant. The two could be synonymous.

There are occasions when rulers in the world are so wicked and so evil that we might pray these psalms appropriately. In praying them, this is not a desire for me personally to take the ruler out. I’m not going to do it; God needs to do it. It needs to be an act of God to remove a source of great evil, so that relief and blessing will come to His subjects.

Praying the imprecatory psalms needs to be done carefully, with forethought, and the occasion needs to be correct. But there are times when you should do just that.

This transcript is from a live Ask Ligonier event with Derek Thomas and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.