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Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad…” Proverbs 24:17-18Part three of three.
Three good reasons that we should not celebrate when our enemies fall.
1. To conform us to Jesus image. Though at times He was bold and blunt-spoken, Jesus was never vindictive. To the Contrary. He wept for His enemies when He pondered the awful judgment awaiting them (Luke 19:41-44), and prayed even while dying, that God would forgive their sins against Him. He was the express image of His compassionate Father who said “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? (Ezekiel 18:23). And conforming us to His character image is the primary goal of the Holy Spirit in all His work in and for us. (See Romans 8:29)
2. To release God to fully defend us. When we are harassed and persecuted by adamant adversaries, we need help very badly! And God wants to provide that help whenever and wherever it is necessary. He freely offers His services as our all-powerful Defender and Arbitrator of all our disputes: “I will contend with him that contended with thee” (Isaiah 49:25) But to receive His defense, we must forfeit our self defense and the spirit of revenge. Then He will step in and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, He will make a way through a sea of slander, persecution, injustice, illegality, and oppression . (See Genesis 12:3, Exodus 23:22-23.Luke 1:74-75)
3.So we wont be like our enemies. We must understand that this divine ban on the spirit of revenge is not binding on our enemies. Presently free to be as wicked as they will, they sing and celebrate when we are persecuted and beam with joy when we are crestfallen.
David knew all about this: “But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together…with hypocritical mockers in feasts” (Psalms 35:15-16). The Philistines freely made sport of Samson after his defeat and made a trophy of Saul’s head after his death: and the Edomites rejoiced when Judah fell to the Babylonians. But one day God freely judged both of these nations for their unchecked vengefulness against His children.
There is also a powerful assurance hidden in this proverb: one day God will reckon with our vengeful enemies.
Solomon’sinspired word states “when” not “if”: “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth…..when he stumbleth”. It is a strong sustaining comfort to know that God has promised to right every wrong done against us if our offenders remain bent on harming us and those we love: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). Jesus personally assured us that our heavenly Father would give us perfect justice: “And shall not God avenge His own elect, who cry unto him day and night, though he bear long with them…. I tell you that He will avenge them speedily” (Luke 18:7-8)
We don’t have to think a thought, speak a word, or lift a finger in retaliation.
Our Father will take care of that for us in His own time and way. We are free to leave our enemies in His hands and focus all of our attention on pursuing His will for our lives. Hence, unshackled by vindictiveness, we press toward the mark set before us.
Gods commands are His enabling and every one of us can confess with confidence, “God can do this in me” By the power of His Spirit He can enable me to live absolutely free of the spirit of revenge and full of the spirit of reconciliation--not in the here after, but now in this life.
He did this in David, who progressed from cutting off a piece of the Kings robe, to publicly renouncing his right to take revenge on the “Lords anointed.” (see 1 Samuel 24,25,and26).
When Saul died, David wept, not with feigned mourning but with real grief over what Saul could have been had he not turned from God.
Steven prayed for his raving murderers, crying out “Lord lay not this sin to their charge.” (Acts 7:60)
And centuries later as William Tyndale was dying he prayed for the very monarch who had ordered his execution. “Lord open the King of England’s eyes.”
If the grace of God was sufficient for them; it will be sufficient for us too.
We need only to understand that the grace that David, Steven, and Tyndale exhibited, did not come instantly but was the result of the process of Sanctification that comes as we repent from and lay aside the spirit of revenge and choose the spirit of mercy. (Hebrews 12:1)
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