The Emotions of Psalms Part 4: Psalm 109 – Feeling Wrathful

The Emotions of Psalms Part 4: Psalm 109 – Feeling Wrathful

The Emotions of Psalms, Part 4 – Psalm 109: Feeling Wrathful

Psalm 109        June 28, 2026

Introduction

  •  In the 900s AD Olga of Kiev was married to the man who ruled large portions of what is now Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Her husband was brutally murdered when he was seeking to collect taxes from a tribe under their control named the Derevlians. Consumed by her wrath and desire for vengeance, Olga began to hatch a plot for revenge. First, the Derevlians sent a delegation to propose a marriage alliance with her. She feigned interest until she captured the delegation and had them buried alive. Unaware of the first delegation’s demise, a second was sent. Prior to meeting with them, she made them bathe in one of the local bathhouses. While inside, she had her men bar the door and burn the whole building down. 
  • She then immediately set off for the Derevlian capital before word could spread of the death of the two delegations. When she arrived, before the marriage would take place, she asked for a grand memorial feast for her husband at his burial mound outside of the city. The prince of the Derevlians agreed and as they drank themselves into a stupor, Olga ordered her soldiers to attack and thousands of the Derevlian army was put to the sword.
  • But her wrath not yet satisfied. She gathered her army and laid siege to the city. After a year of fighting against the inhabitants, they offered to come under her rule once more and to pay whatever tribute she asked. She demanded that every household present three sparrows and three pigeons from their homesteads. Gathering all of the birds together, she had her soldiers tie rags dipped in sulphur to the feet of each bird, lit them afire, and released them to return to their nests in the city. That night, the entire city burned and thousands perished. Olga’s wrath was finally satisfied.
  • All emotions have a trigger. One of the most common emotional triggers is hurt. Today we are going to look at how our hurt – especially from an injustice done to us – can very easily and understandably bring about a feeling of wrath
  • 3 points today – Psalmist’s Pathos, Psalmist’s Processing, Psalmist’s Pointing

Psalmist’s Primary Pathos: Hurt leading to Wrath

  • Psalm   
  • 109 Be not silent, O God of my praise!
    2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
        speaking against me with lying tongues.
    3 They encircle me with words of hate,
        and attack me without cause.
    4 In return for my love they accuse me,
        but I give myself to prayer.
    5 So they reward me evil for good,
        and hatred for my love.
  • 6 Appoint a wicked man against him;
        let an accuser stand at his right hand.
    7 When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
        let his prayer be counted as sin!
    8 May his days be few;
        may another take his office!
    9 May his children be fatherless
        and his wife a widow!
    10 May his children wander about and beg,
        seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
    11 May the creditor seize all that he has;
        may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
    12 Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
        nor any to pity his fatherless children!
    13 May his posterity be cut off;
        may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
    14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
        and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
    15 Let them be before the Lord continually,
        that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
  • 16 For he did not remember to show kindness,
        but pursued the poor and needy
        and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
    17 He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
        He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
    18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
        may it soak into his body like water,
        like oil into his bones!
    19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
        like a belt that he puts on every day!
    20 May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
        of those who speak evil against my life!
  • 21 But you, O God my Lord,
        deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
        because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
    22 For I am poor and needy,
        and my heart is stricken within me.
    23 I am gone like a shadow at evening;
        I am shaken off like a locust.
    24 My knees are weak through fasting;
        my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
    25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
        when they see me, they wag their heads.
  • 26 Help me, O Lord my God!
        Save me according to your steadfast love!
    27 Let them know that this is your hand;
        you, O Lord, have done it!
    28 Let them curse, but you will bless!
        They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
    29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
        may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
  • 30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
        I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
    31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
        to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
  • Spectrum of how hurt (especially from an injustice done to you) is expressed: Saturation to Suppression
    • Saturation – (this Psalm is all saturation) wrath
    • Suppression – overwhelmed (Psalm 69) and sadness/depression (Psalm 42) (future sermons)

Psalmist’s Processing

  • V1-5 = self-defense and pronouncement of injustice
    • Eyes on self, but prayer
      • (v1) = call to be heard; (v2-5) = injustice of situation and innocence; (v4) recognize need for prayer….what kind – prayer of wrath/cursing
        • [“I give myself to prayer”] = “The Hebrew is more abrupt and therefore even stronger. It says literally, ‘But I prayer.’ That is, ‘I am all prayer or characterized by prayer. While my enemies are uttering false words about me to other people, trying to do me harm, I am speaking to God. I am praying to God always.’” – James M. Boice, his commentary on Psalms
        • “He did nothing else but pray. He became prayer as they became malice. This was his answer to his enemies, he appealed from men and their injustice to the Judge of all the earth, who must do right.” – C.H. Spurgeon, his commentary on Psalms
  • V6-20 = wrathful curse
    • Blame on offender (wrath poured out)
      • David writing and pouring out his emotion is very different from him internalizing and taking matters into his own hands – which he didn’t do twice (1 Sam. 24, 26) when he could have with Saul. 
  • V21 = turning to the Lord
    • Eyes to the Lord
    • “For your name’s sake” – “Ungodly men will not see God’s hand in anything if they can help it, and when they see good men delivered into their power they become more confirmed than ever in their atheism; but all in good time God will arise and so effectually punish their malice and rescue the object of their spite that they will be compelled to say like the Egyptian magicians, ‘this is the finger of God.’” – C.H. Spurgeon, his commentary on Psalms
  • V22-25 = recognition of own condition
    • Eyes back to me
      • If no recognition of spiritual neediness, then can be overwhelmed by the physical and emotional brokenness….God can (and will) heal it all, but His primary concern is that we seek His (spiritual) kingdom first (Matthew 6:33)
  • V26-29 = appeal for salvation
    • Eyes to the Lord and justice over offender (but still glancing at offender)
      • Romans 12:19-21 “19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (see Deuteronomy 32:35)
  • V30-31 = praise for His expected justice and deliverance
    • Eyes off of offender and onto the Lord exclusively

Psalmist’s Pointing to Jesus

  • Matthew 23:13-15, 33-36 “13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves….33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”
    • Jesus expresses wrath and curses (woes) over pharisees
      • “While we may pray for God’s justice to be done, even his wrath to be poured out, we must be careful not to pray that in the spirit that Jonah did, nor in the way that James and John requested on Jesus that lightning be sent to consume those not in their ranks: that is, in self-righteousness, or in a way that prizes our immediate sense of vindication over God’s greatest glory.”Reading and Praying the Imprecatory Psalms — The Reformed Classicalist
        • Save them or slay them – either way, we are to trust in the Lord and seek His glory above justice for ourself.
  • Matthew 23:37-39 “37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
    • Wrath turns to lament and sorrow over sin and desire for blessing where there is a curse. 
    • God is the judge and we must entrust the bringing of justice to Him, even as we receive mercy from Him when we ourselves deserve justice…and ultimately, the transformed heart of the one who has received mercy will be moved to compassion to show mercy even to the one who has wronged us.
  • Luke 6:27-28, 35-36 “27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you….35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
    • Ultimately, as we express our emotion, allow the Lord to be the executor of justice, and look to Him alone (instead of ourselves)…He will remind us of His mercy toward us, that our wrath may subside and His mercy would reign over our hearts that we would not turn bitter, resentful, and unable to reflect God’s love.
    • 1 Peter 2:21-23 “21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Conclusion

  • Olga remained a shrewd and ruthless political ruler and sought to maintain healthy ties with her most powerful neighbor, the Byzantine Empire. Travelling there, she was taken in by the beauty of the empire, but also of the ideas of mercy and forgiveness offered by, what to her was a foreign religion, Christianity. And so there, persuaded by Constantine the VII, she was baptized upon converting to Christianity.
  • While many believe her initial motivations were political, she never waivered from her faith and grew in her piety and pursuit of the Lord, building many churches throughout her land and sharing the gospel with all who would receive it. In the midst of the extensive paganism of her people, she sought to teach them the mercy and forgiveness she had found. Her ministry was so extensive, that years after her death she was canonized as a saint.
  • The emotion of wrath must be expressed as hurt produces it. If it is not, it will lead to us seeking to take vengeance into our own hands. God is the judge, and He will bring justice, or else He will give mercy. Either way, He will glorify Himself – and as we grow and mature, that must be our aim. 
  • Amen. Amen. 
  • Prayer through Psalm.
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