Blessing Enemies
Blessing Enemies
It’s easy to bless someone when you like them, or when they treat you well. But when was the last time God asked you to bless someone who was going out of their way to make your life miserable? Because that’s exactly what He asked me to do…
The conflict
Several years back, I was struggling with bitter feelings toward some people — people who were causing me harm, who seemed to be going out of their way to make my life difficult and painful.
I was praying about this, one morning, while driving. I knew that God didn’t want me to stay bitter, but I couldn’t figure out how to not feel the way I felt.
The song “The Blessing” came on the radio, and as I listened and prayed, I felt God prompting me, “Sing it over them.”
Everything inside of me began to protest. “No, God! Absolutely not!”
And everything in my flesh cried out, “That would be the opposite of what’s right and just and good!”
I ran through the lyrics in my mind, imagining what it would be like — what it would feel like — to sing them as a blessing over my enemies:
“The Lord bless [So-and-so] and keep [ So-and-so]... and make His face shine upon [So-and-so] and be gracious to [So-and-so]... the Lord turn His face toward [So-and-so]... and give [So-and-so] peace?!”
My well-reasoned argument
“Oh God, that can’t be right!” I argued. “Don't You know that they’re hurting someone You love? Surely, You don’t want to bless them or keep them, or to give them Your grace or Your presence or Your peace — at least not until they repent, right?
“You can’t possibly be asking me to pray these things over the people who have hurt me — who are still hurting me...
“Because what if I do? And what if You give them exactly what I’d be asking You to give them? And what if they misunderstand Your blessing them as a sign that You’re on their side? That they’re right? That it’s okay for them to keep treating me this way, even though they’re hurting me?
“God, no! You can’t ask that of me...”
But as I argued my case before God, His Spirit brought Bible verse after Bible verse to my mind…
God’s perfect answer
And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” - Exodus 33:19 (NIV)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” - Jesus (Matthew 5:43-45, WEB)
“But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” - Jesus (Luke 6:35-36, CSB)
And with every passage of Scripture that God brought to my mind, He answered me so clearly, “No, Christina, this is what’s right and just and good. This is what I'm asking you to do.”
The resolution
For the next several months, every time one of those people came to my mind — even (or especially) when they were on my mind because they were presently causing trouble or hurting me in some way — I would begin to sing (or hum, or pray) “The Blessing” over them.
This didn’t fix my circumstances, by the way. Their spiteful blows kept right on coming.
It did do a lot, however, to deal with my bitterness toward them, and to help me to see them as people whom God loves and cares about — and consequently, people whom I should love and care about, as well.
And eventually, it even got me to the place where (most days) I can honestly say, I really hope that God blesses them with all of His goodness, His mercy, and His favor, both in this lifetime and beyond — even if we remain at odds for the rest of our days here on earth.
The thing about blessing enemies is that, it’s really hard to stay bitter toward someone and to ask God to bless them at the same time. I bet God knew it would be, from the beginning, and I bet that’s one of the reasons Jesus taught that you and I should bless our enemies.
Want to read more articles like this one? Subscribe today for free, and you’ll get blog posts and updates sent straight to your inbox, so you’ll never miss a thing!
