When we or someone we love are harmed—or even when we hear of an innocent victim being hurt—we feel a natural desire for justice. This is good. It indicates that we have a moral compass and are restless when things aren’t right.
That sense of justice can easily ignite a desire for vengeance. This is bad. Vengeance calcifies enmity and creates cycles of escalating violence which are difficult to contain. No wonder God told us to leave vengeance to Him. (See Mormon 3:15; Deuteronomy 32:43; Romans 12:19.)
Jesus taught us to avoid this trap by overriding enmity with positive action:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Matthew 5:43-44; 3 Nephi 12:43-44
That sounds noble, but how do we actually do it? How do you pray for someone who has harmed you and who may still be a danger to you and others without abandoning your principles and your sense of justice?
The dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple provides a model. Church members in Missouri had been violently driven from their homes, their property and crops had been destroyed, and many of them had been physically assaulted and their lives threatened. Several passages in the prayer evoke their pain, pleading with God to set things right. For example:
We ask thee, Holy Father, to remember those who have been driven by the inhabitants of Jackson county, Missouri, from the lands of their inheritance, and break off, O Lord, this yoke of affliction that has been put upon them. …
O Lord, how long wilt thou suffer this people to bear this affliction, and the cries of their innocent ones to ascend up in thine ears, and their blood come up in testimony before thee, and not make a display of thy testimony in their behalf?
Doctrine and Covenants 109:47, 49
After praying for the victims, Joseph turns his attention to the aggressors. “Have mercy, O Lord, upon the wicked mob,” he says (Doctrine and Covenants 109:50). But his prayer for the mobs does not end there, and in subsequent verses, he invokes both God’s justice and His mercy.
An imprecatory psalm is a prayer for God to punish one’s enemies. For example, in Psalm 35, King David implores:
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. …
Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them. …
Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions.
Psalm 35:1, 5, 17
The language sounds harsh, but it’s ultimately a plea for deliverance more than a plea for punishment. He wants the violence to end.
Joseph Smith’s prayer has a similar tone, but with an important addition: an explicit acknowledgment that God is willing to forgive their oppressors if they choose to repent:
Have mercy, O Lord, upon the wicked mob, who have driven thy people, that they may cease to spoil, that they may repent of their sins if repentance is to be found;
But if they will not, make bare thine arm, O Lord, and redeem that which thou didst appoint a Zion unto thy people.
And if it cannot be otherwise, that the cause of thy people may not fail before thee may thine anger be kindled, and thine indignation fall upon them, that they may be wasted away, both root and branch, from under heaven;
But inasmuch as they will repent, thou art gracious and merciful, and wilt turn away thy wrath when thou lookest upon the face of thine Anointed.
Doctrine and Covenants 109:50-53
It’s a beautiful blending of justice and mercy: heartfelt empathy for the oppressed and a desire for their deliverance, combined with a sincere hope that the oppressors will change their hearts and receive God’s grace.
What I’ve learned from Joseph’s prayer is that it’s okay to be hurting and to express that hurt openly as we pray, but it’s important to focus on resolution instead of retribution. It’s also essential to remind ourselves frequently that the one who wronged us is also a child of God, eligible for God’s mercy if they change their behavior.
Today, I will pray for someone who has harmed me. I will be candid about the pain but hopeful that God’s justice and mercy will make things right, both for me and for the offender.
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