Repay Evil with Good

15. July 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:    Wow!!!!!!   Got a major response from yesterday’s devotional.  I guess we all got a lot of enemies.  Some felt really reprimanded and convicted by God’s word and others were concerned about the extent of the goodness and kindness to show towards our enemy. Let me see if I can clarify your concerns by giving you a personal example of what happened to me. A few years back I was wrongfully sued.  I had a contract, I abided by the contract and at the end right before the project was to be finished the other party demanded things outside of the contract and refused to finish the project unless I agreed to his terms. I refused, got some help and finished the project on my own.  

Later, I learned that this man had filed a lien against my property demanding amounts that were not owed to him at all and subsequently took me to court.  I was furious.  He was such a thorn in the flesh.   There were so many lies, so much deceit and I had trusted this man so.     Everytime I thought about it, I would get so angry, it consumed so much of my thought life and he was going on with his life not being bothered at all.   He became my enemy.  He was out to harm me and take something away from me that he had no right to.  

I prayed that God would remove the anger but the case just dragged on and on.  We went to mediation and received a judgment to dismiss the case and I thought it was over.  When we recieved the mediation papers from the opposing counsel the decison  to dismiss was reflected but with stimpulations that were in favor of my opponent.   I was livid.  It seemed like the case would never end.   

One day I heard that the man fell desperately ill and all I wanted to do was pray for him.  I immediately went to the hospital where he was and when he saw me, I think I almost made him have a heart attack.   He was astonished to see me.  I asked him if I could pray with him.   Standing there holding my enemy’s hand and looking into his eyes and praying just made all the hate disappear.   It didn’t seem to matter anymore.  At that point, he had lost the control he had over me because I wanted nothing but the best for him and I meant it.  I chose to make him a part of my prayer life and intercede for his welfare.  I desperately wanted God to heal him even though I knew it meant we would return to the battle fields.   I wanted God to raise him up from his sick bed and show forth his glory in this situation. 

I stop pursuing the case.  I was done with it.  I had done nothing wrong and I wasn’t going to commit any more energy to revisiting these past emotions of hate, anger and betrayal.  A few months ago, I got a document from my attorney that the case had been dropped and the lien on my property had been removed.  YES!!!!!!!!!!!   The word works!!!!!!!!   It absolutely does. Jesus is not asking you to go find your enemies and do something nice for them but when you do encounter them and when they do attack you, he is teaching to repay their evil with good. 

Okay, look around you.  You may be at work.  The person next to you who has done everything they can to get you fired or has bad mouthed you or attempted to assasinate your character, or the relative that may be envious and jealous of you and constantly causes you distress, or the friend that seems to hate you for no reason and constantly does things to make your life and your relationships difficult, etc  and the anger you have for them is consuming your thought life. 

 Let it go. Do something nice for them.   Be kind.  The bible says it’s like heaping coals of fire on their head.  God will deal with their conscious.   My friends let me tell you that God has a way of handling our enemies that’s far superior to anything we could have done.   Reacting shows that they have the power.  Being kind shows that you’re in control.   

Okay, I hope this helps.   We will return to our study on tomorrow.   God Bless!!!! 

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily. 

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