Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth,
and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Lest the Lord see it,
and it displease him,
and he turn away his wrath from him. Proverbs 24:17-18
We all know that Jesus told us to love our enemies:
But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you; Matthew 5:44
God encourages us to be loving,
even to our enemies
He wants us to bless people and not curse them,
remember that vengeance belongs to Him
and no matter what they do to us,
we are to love them
Jesus warned us also that the love of many will grow cold
We must guard against that
and it entails much yielding to the Holy Spirit
and I am not sure what else,
but I encourage you to get with God
and have Him teach you
how to guard against letting your love grow cold
What good is a Christian without love?
Jesus was a stellar example of this kind of love
He reached up and healed the ear of the High Priest
that one of the disciples cut off
While Jesus was being crucified,
He prayed “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
(Luke 23:34)
This is sometimes difficult
we want to see evil repaid,
especially when we are judging evil
with what might seem to be righteous judgment
The disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven
on those who refused to Jesus:
And sent messengers before his face:
and they went,
and entered into a village of the Samaritans,
to make ready for him.
And they did not receive him,
because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
And when his disciples James and John saw this,
they said, Lord,
wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven,
and consume them, even as Elias did?
But he turned, and rebuked them, and said,
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives,
but to save them.
And they went to another village.
Luke 9:52-56
There was an old-time preacher named William Branham
He was preaching the gospel
and a lady came and mocked him
She was actually mocking the gospel
She soon ended up in the hospital with a sudden illness
and was crying out for William Branham,
she must’ve somehow known she had offended God
He went to the hospital and before he could get to her room, she died
God will not be mocked
However, that is His place to decide, not ours
Our commands are to love and forgive
If we wish bad upon anyone,
we are not operating in His Holy Spirit
and we risk angering God
Vengeance belongs to God
Scriptural References:
And one of them struck the servant of the high priest
and cut off his right ear.
But Jesus answered and said,
“Permit even this.”
And He touched his ear and healed him. Luke 22:50-51
Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Matthew 24:12
To me belongeth vengeance,
and recompence;
their foot shall slide in due time:
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
Deuteronomy 32:35