Have you ever prayed for a terrorist? How about one of the numerous felons, murderers, rapist, or one of the other horrendous offenders that call our nations prisons their home? How about taking the question a step farther—have you ever purposefully spent time with a terrorist or any of the many malcontents who would wish you or your family harm? Maybe that’s an extreme example, let me ask you this, did you pray for that person who cut you off in traffic? How about that busy body at work that stays in everyone’s business? Better yet did you pray for that ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend who completely “did you wrong”? What about the deadbeat ex-husband or your adulteress ex-wife? In short, did you pray for your enemy this week?
It’s easy to pray for those we care about, those people who we see as important to our lives. Heck, it’s even easy to pray for the unknown faceless missionaries across the globe, people who we only know through a mass email, or even those people who we know only by a bumper sticker or roadside sign that says, “Pray for (you fill in the blank)”. What about the others, those people who are not faceless, nor nameless? In fact they are almost infamous, their names and faces burned deep into our psyche—truth be known we couldn’t forget them if we tried...your enemies. Maybe enemy is too harsh a word for you, how about adversaries, foes, opposition, or how about just those people that it’s easy to hate?
As I was closing out my thoughts on the book of Jonah I began to really think about my own personal ministry to those who I would consider an “enemy”. Those people near and far who in some way have wronged me or my family, or even those countless individuals who would wish my family (or my country) harm for the sake of some misguided ideology. Jonah was commanded by God to take a message to the tyrants of his day, a people that history records as some of the most violent and cruel to have ever ruled. Eventually (after a small detour to the bottom of the ocean via a God created sea creature), Jonah makes his way to this great city and preaches the Word that God had given him, not so much out of compassion for his enemy, but out of obligation to his God. As it turns out, even the vilest of people can be touched by the Word of God and the entire city repents and humbles themselves before the God of Israel. What an awesome story of repentance and God’s mercy—unfortunately the story didn’t end there. We find Jonah on a mountain top, his preaching done, looking down waiting on God to destroy Nineveh. Jonah had missed one of the greatest examples of the mercy of God, a city of over 600,000 wailing and humbling themselves before God, in hopes that He would with-hold His righteous judgment, which He does. Jonah is furious with God—why hadn’t He punished such a horrible group of people? Now that He had spared them would they not just rise up again and destroy the people of Israel? Jonah figured he was better off dead than for God to forgive such a horrible people.
Before you are quick to judge Jonah, think about your own life. Are you quick to pray for those who hate you, those who have hurt you, or someone else that you love? Do you pray for God’s blessings in their lives, that He would reveal Himself to them in such a way that they would come to have a relationship with Him? Are you actively seeking them out, telling them of the love of God and His Son, what He has done in your life and what He wants to do in theirs? It’s easy to love those who treat us the way we want to be treated—loving your enemy…that’s a different story. Take time and earnestly pray for an enemy today.
No comments:
Post a Comment