Happy When Your Enemy Fails?

Happy When Your Enemy Fails_

3:27

The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads. Obadiah 1:15

Bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them; pray that God will bless them. Romans 12:14

With human nature, it is sometimes easy to be happy and/or have a vengeful stance toward our enemy when they fail or suffer harm. Because of how they have treated us, we gloat or celebrate when terrible things happen to them. But when you stop to think about this, as a child of God, is God pleased with that type of attitude or behavior from us? And the answer is a definitive, No!

As said in the above verse, Obadiah 1:15, God is not pleased when we celebrate when evil things happen to our enemies. As the verse states, what you may wish on someone else can fall back onto you. In the Bible passage of Obadiah, the people of Edom were descendants of Esau, who was Jacob’s twin brother, and therefore, they were cousins to the Children of Israel. But through the years, the two people groups were estranged from one another to the point where Edomites and the Israelites became sworn enemies. In the verses from Obadiah, it describes how the Israelites were taken over, captured, and their land plundered. Instead of the Edomites helping the Israelites fight against their enemies, they rejoiced over what was happening to them. They even went into the Israelites' territory and plundered the area, taking the spoils that were left behind. In these verses, God clearly states He is not happy with their response to the situation. When you read the Old Testament and understand what happened to the Israelites and why, it does not mean God expects other people groups to rejoice at their misfortune.

The same can be said for us today. It is easy to see evil and find enemies amongst various people groups. But God does not expect us to stoop to their level or respond in the same manner as they would by hating them and wanting misfortune to come their way. As said before, it is very tempting with our human nature to want terrible things to happen to people we do not like; however, that is not what pleases God and how He expects us to behave. Despite how we may feel about a person or people groups who do harm to others, God wants His children to have a different response to those in the world than what our flesh dictates. From now on, may we pray and seek to behave in a manner towards our enemies that pleases God. May we look to pray for them and not wish for any harm to befall them or us.

Blessings,

Angélique

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