TURN THE ENEMY INTO A FRIEND

Proverbs 24.17-18
TURN THE ENEMY INTO A FRIEND
"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice...."

CERTAIN THINGS ARE ONLY NATURAL. BUT that does not make them right. For example, the instinct to hit back, whether verbally or physically, resides in all of us. But it may not always be the right thing to do. So also is the tendency to gloat when our enemy falls. God tells us here, "Don't laugh, or you may end up being laughed at."

The command to love our enemies (Matt 5.44) has always been attributed to Jesus as one of His most revolutionary teachings. This is true. However, some have erroneously added that this teaching belongs to the New Testament whereas the Old Testament teaches us to hate our enemies. Nothing could be further from the truth! Proverbs has ample teachings on how we should treat our enemies to dispel such an idea.

For example, in 25.21-22, we read, "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you." (This is in fact quoted by Paul in the New Testament, Rom 12.20.) We are to overcome our enemies, not by hatred but by love. The burning coals could be a reference to an Egyptian rite in which a person carries a basin of glowing coals on his head to express his guilt and repentance. By doing good to an enemy, we help him see his wrong so that he may repent.

If we show such concern for an enemy, how can we rejoice when he falls? We will be thinking of his good, rather than his harm. Using a strange but effective argument, Solomon warns us that — if we should gloat over our enemy — God may choose to side with him against us (24.18). In other words, from displeasure with our enemy, God may become displeased with us! He takes no delight in our gloating.

Finally, Proverbs gives us a formula for keeping peace with our enemies. "When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him" (16.7). People may dislike us and even seek to harm us. Our responsibility is to make sure we are right with our God, and that our ways are pleasing to the LORD. It is best that we let God deal with our opponents. In the final analysis, we should have no enemy. We should seek to turn enemies into friends. But if they persist in their enmity, let them be God's enemies, not ours.

How can I turn my enemy into a friend?