Psalm 58: Slackers!!!!!!

I'm kind of getting the feeling that many people are slacking off with their psalm readings, myself included. As we get busy with life, we often lose our focus on our time with God. That is not good! So I'm not going to give you much insight into Psalm 58. You have to read it and figure it out for yourself! I will however give you some questions that come to my mind when reading this psalm. I will give you questions, but not the answers. I encourage you to spend time thinking about these questions and using God's Word to help you find and understand the answers. I'll give you some scriptures to guide your thinking. I have noticed that the times when I learn the most about God's Word are when I have an unanswered question and I attempt to answer it through prayer and meditating on scriptures until I find the answer. Although there are some questions that our human minds cannot fully comprehend, we should strive to understand them the best we can. Great growth in spiritual knowledge comes from asking the difficult questions and searching for the answer. Do not be content being ignorant to the truth.

Quick Intro:
This psalm is an imprecatory psalm, which means it invokes a curse upon enemies. David says in verse 6 "Break the teeth in their mouths" In Ray's language that means "curb" them. Verse 10 says "The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked." Clearly David is asking for God to bring judgment on the wicked. However, Jesus says in Matthew 5:44 "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." We know that as Christians we should desire the lost to repent and be saved.

The questions are:
1. Should we pray for the judgment of the wicked?
2. If so, how can we pray for the wicked to repent and be saved, while at the same time pray for God's judgment on them?
3. Can God's judgment on earth lead to repentance?
4. What does God receive from his people for his judgment on the wicked?
5. What does God receive from his people for his grace in salvation?
6. In light of questions 4&5, What should be the motive behind our prayers?

Hint: The answers to questions 4 and 5 are the same and it starts with a "g".

Scriptures to help you:
Call for God's judgment
Galatians 1:8-9
Revelation 6:10

Call for repentance
Ezekiel 33:11

Shows beneficial result of God's judgment
Romans 9:22-23
Exodus 14:4
Exodus 14:31

Shows God's purpose of salvation
John 17:1-2
Romans 16:27

Please feel free to discuss these questions in the comments section. Also atleast leave a comment to prove that you are actually following along in our psalms study. Matt's experiment in psalm 51 seemed to prove that people are slacking. Ironically, the people that need to hear this are the one's that aren't reading this right now. So if you're reading this, pat yourself on the back! Let us encourage one another and spur one another on toward love and good deeds!

Bryan