Praying the Psalms

"We have all felt astonished and perhaps bewildered by the psalmist's curses of God's enemies or of personal foes. Many psalms describe a great conflict between God's followers and the pagans who eventually are routed because of His sovereign power. Often the psalm includes a reminder that the people of God were in trouble in the first place because they had been unfaithful. A look at the literal meaning of these 'imprecatory psalms' will demonstrate that symbolically the great battle rages within ourselves: Israel represents my God-given strength and desires, while the idolatrous and murderous pagans are a symbol of my sins, vices and deep-rooted egotism. As I read the psalms allegorically, I recognize that I have often surrendered to or eagerly embraced these vicious tendencies within my mind and heart. In short, I have been an enemy of God. It is a relief to know that in the imprecatory psalms, at least, the friends of God are delivered by divine power (our virtues are victorious), while His enemies (the dark aspects of the human mind opposed to God) are defeated."
~Benedict Groeschel