Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.
Memory Verse: If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the Lord will reward you. Proverbs 25:21-22
Yesterday we looked into revenge, the natural human response to situations and how our first instinct is to attack the offender and today we continue on the topic, highlighting how to behave when the Lord is fighting our battles.
Naturally we get excited in our minds thinking evil people deserve to be dealt with but how do we impact that judgment? During our proverbs challenge last December 2020, we came across the verse which talked about how to behave when the enemy is being punished and I find myself pondering on just the differences between our behavior versus God’s expectation.
If you have spent some time around angry people, someone who is just so angry and is eaten up with the desire to revenge, you will quickly observe they have nursed an attitude of resentment and when the word of the Lord in Romans 12:19 comes to them saying ‘Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord’. They then begin to wait as if waiting for the enemy’s day of shame.
God is not interested in punishing any of His creature. It’s not a thing of Joy for Him but when He has to take vengeance for His very special Children who recognise Him as father, know that He is still destroying an individual He created Himself so therefore He is unhappy with those who gloat over someone else’s failure. We are simply not allowed to gloat when the enemy has faces problems because it becomes evident that the word of God does not dwell in our hearts and our letting go was only for the opportunity to see God’s revenge which means our heart is still filled with bitterness and revenge.
Do you rejoice in when your enemy falls? Are you secretly glad in your heart when they stumble? Does it bring joy to your heart hearing of their misfortune? Remember God sees our hearts and therefore when He sees our attitude towards the downfall of our enemies, He may shift His focus away from that which is being punished and now focus on our own sinful attitude.
We have now at that instant stooped lower than the enemy and God is too Holy to stand by unrighteousness. Revenge is poison and resentment is toxic so we ought to get rid of them by surrendering to God completely.
It may take several weeks and even longer to get over hurt completely but the earlier we let go completely, the sooner we begin to make progress in our relationship with God in the right direction. When the Lord take vengeance, we are to worship Him for deliverance like Moses did in Exodus 15 not get puffed up in the fall of the enemy.
PRAYERS
- Father I thank you for another great week full of love and grace
- Heal me of ever pains and hurts Lord, help me to surrender all to you and not seek revenge
- Help me not to gloat over my enemies, but to celebrate you in humility while you fight for me
- Locate me in my time of need O Lord, and let me not take any step except that which you guide me to.
- Help me Lord to live in oneness following your principles and sharing your love with others
- Help me to believe in the abilities you have given me, understand my formation and cast aside every element of worry and attributes of setbacks.
- Help me to be fully devoted to you and be passionate about my relationship with you
- Go Ahead of Me Lord, guide me, order my steps, direct me and let this be my year of unprecedented grace.
- Give me Oil, keep me burning and let me never depart from your presence.
- Forgive me Lord of all my iniquities, bless me abundantly and make me a blessing unto others, in Jesus mighty name I pray, Amen.
