Resisting the Tumbleweed Prayer

Psalm 83, which we prayed at the Mount this morning, includes an evocative plea to God about how to deal with our enemies:

Reduce them, God, to tumbleweed,

to straw in the wind.

I am tempted to offer this prayer when I hear about the many politicians and their donors who are bloated with wealth and yet refuse to let destitute refugees find a home in the United States. It would be poetic justice for these currently powerful men and women to become dessicated tumbleweeds driven from place to place and never finding rest. However, as the psalmist knew, although we can make suggestions to God about how to deal with our enemies, justice ultimately is in God’s hands. If the people whose actions trouble us need to be humbled to be redeemed, we can trust that is what will happen (maybe even with our assistance when we vote them out of office and boycott their businesses!).

I’m actually finding it easier to pity those who clutch worldly treasure so tightly that they are unable to accept the infinitely greater treasure that God offers us—treasure that we won’t have to relinquish when we die. One day, whether on earth or in the hereafter, when these men and women realize that the self they spent so much time protecting and pampering is nothing but an empty shell and they are faced with the immense suffering they inflicted on others, they will endure great anguish. As much as I their actions infuriate me, I don’t wish that on anyone. Thus, rather than imagining them turning into tumbleweeds, it is better to pray that their hardened hearts may turn into hearts of flesh. After all, if we would deny them the opportunity for conversion, we risk hardening of our own hearts, which will only bring more harm to ourselves and the world. The world has enough tumbleweeds. What we need is a greater number of compassionate hearts.