28 October 2009 Devotion for Today "Peace With Your Enemies" Proverbs 12:7-9

 
 

^{7 When a man's ways please the LORD,}

      He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

       8 Better is a little with righteousness,

      Than vast revenues without justice.

       9 A man's heart plans his way,

      But the LORD directs his steps.

Proverbs 12:7-9

 
 

President Abraham Lincoln could usually get along well with everyone. But one individual who constantly berated the President and criticized him was his Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. Stanton was not only critical, but rude and disrespectful of the President. Overhearing such a remark that Stanton had made of the President while in his presence, one of Lincoln's staff members complained "Mr. President, if I were in your position I would do everything in my power to destroy that man as I do all my enemies." To which President Lincoln replied, "Do I not destroy my enemies, when I make them my friends?"

 
 

Do you have those folks in your life that you don't get along with very well? You know the kind I am talking about- the ones who like to irritate you, or "get under your skin?" We all have them. They may be rivals, those with whom we do not "hit it off with." Call it bad chemistry, not clicking, bad communication or whatever you will, the writer of this proverb rolls them all up into a term we may or may not use to describe those folks whom we sometimes consider as the bane of our existence: Enemies.

 
 

 
 

 
 

Personally, I do not like the term enemy. When I think of an enemy I think of a national adversary who is trying to destroy the nation in which I live- and probably me with it. I think of an enemy whom would like nothing better than to read of my demise in the obituaries. As Christians we do not like to admit that we have enemies, but we do. The great enemy of our souls, Satan, is always stalking us as a raging lion seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8). He's constantly on the look out seeking opportunities where he may win victories over us. Sometimes he sends out people, or orchestrates situations between people, in which conflict is inevitable. Our adversaries may not like us because we have conflicting life purposes and philosophies. Sometimes they are our enemies because they have the same purposes and philosophies- its just that they are in competition with us because they are jealous of the opportunities we may have to express them. Perhaps our enemies may feel threatened by us because we seem to have the means to succeed where they do not. They may secretly be jealous of the families, opportunities, and apparent success we seem to enjoy. Every word we say is measured and twisted by our enemies to ensure a communication battle or struggle. They cast aspersions upon every sentence, they malign every nuance of every statement or body language. Most of the time, however, if we reached out to our enemies we would find that they often want the same thing for themselves as we want. When you can reach out to them and love them the way Christ does, you will destroy your enemy the way Lincoln did- by making him your friend.

 
 

The Scripture we read tells us that though we might not be inviting our enemy over for supper right away, that when our actions please the Lord, our enemies will be at peace with us. How do we do this? When we refuse to retaliate against a wrong done to us, we please the Lord. When we refuse to play their games of superiority and competition, we please the Lord. When we refuse to slight or diminish our enemy- especially in the presence of others, but instead give them the credit and honor due to them, we please God. Indeed our actions may cause our adversaries to be ashamed as Paul tells us in Romans 12:20: "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."

 
 

You may not totally eliminate your enemies in this way, but they may keep their distance from you when you show them the grace of God working in your heart. Do all that you can in this way to reach out to them in this way.

 
 

Prayer: Dear God the fact that I may have enemies reflects on the fact that before I came to know You, I was at enmity with You. Help me Lord to get along with those with whom I do not get on well, and make it a challenge to uphold the grace to which You have imparted in my life. In Jesus Name, Amen.

 
 

 
 

Have a blessed day!