An Interlude: Praying about Enemies

“Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.” –Psalm 139:19-22 (NKJV).

I must confess to wanting to skip over Psalm 139:20-22. My thoughts, as I’ve dwelt so intently on Psalm 139 for three days now, have rejoiced in the themes so far of this marvelous Psalm: God’s omnipotence, His omnipresence, His omniscience in knowing us even before our conception, and keeping us in His plan. And then come verses 19-22 which express a prayer that confesses hatred for enemies and a plea that God would slay them. If it is of any consolation to us, some scholars, in close scrutiny of these verses, hold that they may have been misplaced by those who decided on the canonization of the Scriptures, and that these four verses are more in keeping with the theme of Psalm 140 which is a prayer for deliverance from evil men.

We are very much aware that David, the likely author of Psalm 139, was beset on every hand with enemies who sought his life and wanted to dethrone him. It is possible that even in the midst of praising God for His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, David could have been reminded of his enemies and how they intended him harm. Another important lesson we learn from these verses is that we can talk to God about anything that bothers us; and certainly enemies fall into the area of troubles. David seems to have a viable ground for his hatred of enemies: He asks: “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you? Do I not loathe those who rise up against You?” An enemy of God is an enemy to David (and so they are to us as well, among them false teachers “in sheep’s clothing”).

Jesus gave us a different perspective on how we should consider and treat enemies. In the Beatitudes Jesus taught us to love our enemies: “You have heard it was said, 'you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”-Matthew 12:43-46 (NKJV). We are to treat enemies charitably: “Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” –Romans 12:20-21 (RSV).

In reconsidering the verses from Psalm 139 that deal with hatred of enemies, we also should consider that Jesus taught us to love our enemies and Paul admonished Christians to whom he wrote to treat enemies kindly. Someone has summed up how we should treat any enemies of God and ourselves: “Hate the sin but love the sinner.” President Abraham Lincoln, when asked what he would do with all the enemies the United States made during the crisis of the Civil War: “We will make them our friends.” And he had plans for reconciliation before his life was taken from him by an assassin’s bullet. We cannot join the enemy in their disobedience and hatred of God; but we certainly can replace hatred with love and destructive actions by compassionate deeds. And, like David, it is good for us to be on guard against the enemies of God and the damage they can do in the Kingdom of God. Life is a constant warfare; therefore “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8). Be on guard, therefore, and pray.

Are We on God’s Side?

“He that is not with me is against me; and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” -Matthew 12:30. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” –Luke 11:23.“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one Who died—more than that, Who was raised—Who is at the right hand of God, Who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’[quoting from Psalm 44:22] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” -Romans 8:31-36 (ESV) Please read also Romans 8:37-39.

“The question is not: ‘Is God on our side?’ The question is, ‘Are we on God’s side.’” So stated President Ronald Reagan when he spoke before a joint session of the Senate and House. It was as if he was giving his personal testimony of faith. In the same speech he also said: “God has a divine plan for each of us…No greater picture of faith of a U. S. leader is seen than that of Washington on his knees at Valley Forge. And I think of Abraham Lincoln who said, ‘Many and many a time have I been driven to my knees in prayer to seek God’s guidance, to learn His will in difficult decisions.’” Reagan added that he does often as President Lincoln did: Pray for guidance. He wanted to “be on God’s side.”

The length of this brief devotional cannot do justice to the large subject, “Are we on God’s side,” nor to the scriptures I’ve cited above for our thoughts. A wise pastor said, “If a scripture is given twice or more, take heed. God really wants you to learn its truth.” The scripture from Matthew, Luke and Romans kept pounding in my consciousness. “He that is not with me is against me”…and “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The contexts are different for each of the cited scriptures. In Matthew, Jesus was discoursing about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which scholars term the “unforgivable sin.” The quotation from Luke 11:23 uses the same words from Jesus as recorded in Matthew 12:30, but the context is different in Luke. There, Jesus had just cast an evil spirit from a man that had rendered the victim mute, and Jesus’ opponents accused him of being in league with Beelzebub, or the devil. That led Jesus to discourse on a house divided against itself, or, to put it in plain terms, a kingdom (and I think we could say, a person, too) being unable to stand if it (or he/she) pulls in opposite directions at once. Well that He said, “Whoever is not with me is against me.”

On a personal level, we cannot allow our nature to seek to follow God while at the same time hanging onto evil. God is for us—He wants the best for us. But, as President Reagan aptly stated, “Are we on God’s side?” The context of Paul’s writing to the Romans is following a discourse on predestination. And there’s another term over which much ink has been spilled by scholars. I like the black minister’s explanation of predestination. “There are three votes to be cast, brethren and sisters. God votes one for us, the devil votes one against us, and you, my friend, vote one. God, He be for you; the Devil, he be against you; and whichever way you vote, that’s the way it’s going to be!” How much clearer can we get on whether God predestines that each of us follow Him, that He is for each of us? It’s the way we vote—what we decide in regard to salvation and living the Christian life. Paul went on to state unequivocally that nothing—absolutely nothing—can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus: not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation! When we are on God’s side, victory is assuredly ours! Praise be to God!