Solomon asked God for a
discerning heart to govern his people and for the ability to distinguish
between right and wrong. The Lord was pleased with the request, “So
God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth
for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment
in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I
will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been
anyone like you, nor will there ever be”” (1 Kings 3:11-12
NIV). It would be extreme for me to ask God for the death of my enemy, but I
have to admit that I wouldn’t shed a tear if they had a bad case of the flu,
overslept for an important meeting, or had a diminished sphere of influence. I
wrestled with the idea of the death of my enemy and it occurs to me that even
though I wouldn’t ask for someone’s physical death, death takes many forms…the
death of someone’s career, the death of their prowess, the death of one’s
health.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I suppose one of the reasons I’ve been perceived to be hard headed is because I categorize to understand. I don’t know what the Lord thought Solomon may have understood “death” or “enemies” to mean, but in dealing with the thought of “the death of my enemies”, I must deal with the truth of both ideas, “death” and “enemy”.
-----I see things in terms of “enemies of God” more than I do “my enemies”. I never really considered the stuff I have, the things I do, or what I am as being so important that they should have enemies. If any of them were important in truth, they would be important to God, and therefore to me. I am with everyone else in this giant shake-bag of humanity God is dealing with. My attention focuses on catching hold of Him every chance I can get more than onto things and stuff. And any things and stuff I do latch onto, I understand as merely temporary parts of the bag. So any harm or theft others can do to my stuff is only being done to the bag, not to me. Even my own body is part of the bag. So I’m not that important, except for my soul. Nobody can harm that.
-----But if they do it to my wife, or children, or the others I love (which Christ has taught me is everyone,) then they do it to my Lord; they are His enemies.
-----Death has three tiers. The first tier is separation from God by disobedience while alive in the body. The second is death of the body, which might engage the third tier, eternal separation from God after death. The third tier is to be avoided. The other two are to be respected for hopefully the response fearing the Lord will produce.
-----The death I want for “my“ enemy is more a play on concepts than anything else. I want their first tier life -obedience to the Lord, which is death to themselves. I died that way. So did you. Why should they not have to suffer such a death? Then I don’t want their second tier death. And certainly not their third tier death. But their first tier death? I want them dead to themselves. I will even do whatever I can to move it along for them.
-----But the Lord knows who are indelibly His enemies, and who will cease to be enemies at the end of a first tier death. As for the others (unfortunately the many, since the other road is wide,) the Lord knows them. If a second tier death of one is the only way His kingdom can be freed of their mischief, then so be it, I want what He wants. Let Him make His plans and work His wonders.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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