Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him. (Proverbs 24:17-18)
Scene 1: Word comes to the thugs in a Los Angeles street gang hideout that a police sting has just netted twenty-two members of a rival gang in a drug deal gone bad. Their bitter gang enemies appear to be headed for the slammer for some serious hard time. Rejoicing ensues at the news with beer-can toasts, high fives, and cheers…for a fate they themselves deserve.
Scene 2: A major volcanic eruption buries the capital city of a nation with whom America is in a bitter and protracted war…leaving thousands dead and wounded. We respond by… [multiple choice].
God has a strange-but-wonderful expectation of those who share in His redemption. It is contained in the little-known “Doctrine of Non-gloating.” Expressed in Proverbs 24, it is a directive not to “gloat when your enemy falls” or rejoice when he experiences misfortune.
This directive is rooted in the clear teaching of Scriptures that God doesn’t want us involved in bringing our enemies to judgment. “‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19 KJV). God not only wants us to stay out of the business of executing His justice; He wants us to be free from the emotional toll the injustice of evil-doers takes on us. The resentment and bitterness that often accompany enemy attacks are not only destructive; they are heavyweight sin.
Principle: The burdensome emotions and actions of bringing down our enemies is a weight God never intended us to bear, so He frees us by bearing these burdens Himself.
Fine, we decide that we will accept God’s generous provision of spiritual freedom and rest in His all-wise and all-powerful capacity to deal with those who do us wrong. We attain some measure of inner peace that He will fight our enemies for us and go merrily along until we learn that catastrophe has befallen them. Our immediate response is, “Whoopee! They got what they deserve!”
This response is unacceptable because it assumes that we are in a morally superior position to our foes and have the right to “pile on” (alongside God, no less) when they get their comeuppance. Wrong. In actuality, we all have received as much or more forgiveness as our enemies need. Thus, we should be able to wish for them this same unlimited grace.
Principle: To wish judgment for our enemies but mercy for ourselves is unfair. It exploits the forgiveness we have received and displeases the One who gave us undeserved grace.
When Jesus was in near-death agony at the hands of His torturers at Calvary, His expression was a stunning, “Father, forgive them…” This sentence became the hallmark of the supernaturally empowered life. Imagine if He had screamed at his persecutors, ”I’ll dance the day you fry in eternal hell!” Unthinkable. Could the Father not have been displeased and turned His back on such a hateful response?
Principle: To rejoice over our enemies’ troubles is to prompt the heavenly Father to turn His attention from giving them what they deserve to disciplining our ingratitude for the grace we didn’t deserve.
[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]