Proverbs
24:17-18 (NLT)
Don’t rejoice when
your enemies fall;
don’t be happy when they stumble. For the Lord will be
displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them.
This is one of those several passages in the Bible where
I cringe when I read/mediate on them because I know that they are so difficult
to follow. Other examples, at least for
me, and this is only a partial list:
Luke
6:27-28: “But to you who are willing
to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those
who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.”
Luke
14:33: “So
you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”
Matthew
12:36: “And
I tell you that on the Judgment Day people will be responsible for every
careless thing they have said.”
Philippians
2:14: “Do
everything without complaining or arguing”
Matthew
5:29-30: “If your right eye causes
you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of
your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand
causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part
of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
I don’t have many “enemies” in my life, but the few I do,
I would have a very hard time being sad and unhappy for them when they might
stumble. Yet these verses remind me that
my natural attitude against my enemies is not the attitude of a believer in God
and His Son, Jesus Christ. I remember
how good I felt one day when I heard that a former boss, who I thought really
mistreated me, wouldn’t give me good assignments, showed partiality to others,
and did everything he could to discourage me, was demoted. Oh, indeed, I felt so good about this news
about this former tormentor. Then I read
these verses not too long after this demotion.
I was convicted of my sin. All I
could do was confess my sin and pray that the Lord no longer be displeased with
me. This is one of those verses, I
believe, that many believers are not aware of so when they violate it, they are
not judged as transgressors. However,
once they are aware of what these verses teach, then to violate them now
becomes a sin. This is an illustration
of what James 4:17 teaches.
It is very interesting what the last part of these verses
says----that if you rejoice when your enemies stumble, the Lord will turn away
His anger from them. When the Lord’s
child is hurt by another, the Lord gets angry (Deut 32:35-36, Rom 12:19). You must give way to the Lord and let Him
deal with whoever has hurt you. You are
never to seek revenge. Instead you are
to overcome evil against you with good (Rom 12:21). Oh, how difficult this is for us humans. Our instinctive nature is to fight back when
insulted, hurt, taken advantage of, any kind of evil perpetrated against
us. But that is not to be part of our
spiritual nature as obedient followers of the Lord. It takes all of the Lord’s strength within us
not to rejoice when our enemies fall and not to seek retribution and revenge
against them.
Think about it……did Jesus rejoice when his enemies
stumbled and failed? Did he laugh or
smirk or show any kind of pleasure when those who confronted him constantly
during His ministry were made foolish by His words? Did He ask God to hurt or destroy those who
were torturing and crucifying Him? Quite
the opposite, He asked God to forgive His enemies. Such is the attitude we Christians must have
even though it perhaps is the hardest thing we ever have to do in our lives.
Do you need to confess, as I had to do, the times when
you know that you rejoiced when an enemy failed and were happy when he/she
stumbled? Oh, yes, it may very well be
the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do, but it is the right thing, it
shows your obedience to the Lord, and He will bless you for your humility
including the sense of true freedom (example of Joseph in Gen 45, Luke 6:36-37,
Matt 18:21-35).
“Good sense makes a man restrain his anger, and it is his
glory to overlook a transgression or an offense.” Proverbs 19:11
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