Feed Your Enemy (Proverbs 25:21-22)

All right. We're going to be in Proverbs 25. I I say it every time. Proverbs is the built-in daily devotional of the Bible. We We don't always do Proverbs. We in fact, I would say we rarely do it. Um but today there's some there's lots of good stuff in Proverbs 25, but but there's two verses that I want to talk about today. So, we're in Proverbs 25 written by Solomon. Oh, interesting twist. Uh and we talk about Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs. What's interesting is that uh chapter 25 onward starts a a new a new process in proverbs. These were not written down by Solomon.

Chapters 25 and on were written a couple hundred years later, but they were people who recorded what Solomon had to say. So, it's still wisdom from Solomon. It's just someone else who wrote it down. So, here we are in Proverbs 25 and we're in chap in uh chapter 25:es 21 and 22. And it says, "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink." Uh, and in verse 22 says, "And in doing this, you will reap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you." So, so let's break this down. Back in that time, uh, you know, when we have an enemy today, we're like, "Yeah, I just I don't feel like fighting.

I'm I'm going to go a different direction. That's just not what I'm about. I I don't care. I'm I'm going to ignore it. I'm going to just, you know, I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to move cities, whatever it might be. Back in that time, it was a cultural requirement to retaliate. So, when Solomon is making this statement of not only don't retaliate, but feed them and give them something to drink, this was incredibly opposite of everything that they had been taught and told to do. This is revolutionary. So it it it's a bigger scale back then than we look at it today.

Uh they had an obligation to retaliate. But but this changes how God wants us to to view people. If if we if we have an enemy and and we go we fight them and whether we win or lose, did we now get closer to the enemy? Did we did we really resolve anything? Did we get did anything become better? You know, maybe temporarily if you won. If you lost, probably not. But it doesn't bring the two parties together. When when you go the opposite direction and you feed someone who has something against you or you give them water or you take care of them, what's the likelihood that you guys are going to start to kind of try and meet in the middle where where where you might actually become closer?

you might actually work out what your differences are. And that is what Solomon is talking about here. Now, there's a there's an end to this and we don't want to forget that because verse 22 is as powerful as verse 21. But what God is commanding us to do is to love our enemy. And we hear that in the New Testament, right? So, uh in Luke, Jesus says, "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you." It's a command, right? He He This is what he wants us to do. It it it takes more strength to love someone that doesn't like you than it takes to fight them.

That that takes more energy. That takes more courage. Fighting them is easy to do. Loving on them, that's more difficult. But that's what Christ commands us to do. That's what he he wants us to do. And so then verse two goes into saying, "In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." And some people are thinking, well, that's the, you know, that's, you know, that's God's wrath. That's the coals that are on his head and God, you know, God's going to set them on fire. And I don't know that that's really what it is. I think what it is is it's the it's the conscious and the shame that goes along with, hey, I was this person.

this person just did good to me and now there's a there's a radical change that's taking place here that's going on or that potentially can happen. And that's the last part of verse 22 and it says and the Lord will reward you. It's not your place to change their heart. You you don't that's not on you. God that's on God. And that's why he says here at the end, "And the Lord will reward you." It's your responsibility to be obedient and to walk out what he's asked you to. It's on him if that man's or that person's heart is going to soften and they're going to come toward you in a kind way.

That's not on you. That's on God to make that happen. It's just on us to be obedient and follow the formula. Right? We've been talking about this probably for an entire month. the formulas that that reside inside the text, inside the word of God. And so it says, if your if your enemy is hungry, give him food. That's A. If if he's thirsty, give him something to drink. That's B. And in doing this, you'll reap burning coals on his head. That's C. And then it equals the reward if you do that. So, Father, if I'm obedient to you, the Lord's going to reward me.

It doesn't say he's going to reward reward your enemy. That may happen, but you have no control over that. That's on our father. And so, this is counterintuitive to what we know as a as a people, right? Someone hurt me, I got to I got to hurt them back. Hurt people, hurt people. But that's not God's economy of what love looks like. His economy says, "If they're hurting you, love on them. Give them something. Come alongside them. Offer support and guidance." Uh, and that's what we're supposed to do. Now it's in God's court. Now it's in God's hands.

Is that is that man's heart going to get softened? That's up to God. Pharaohs didn't. But it wasn't up to Moses to do that. It was up to Moses to just be obedient and allow God to have the situation unfold the way he wanted it to. All right. 9:23. Thoughts, comments, suggestions? Kill them with kindness. Kill them with kindness. Right. probably exactly where we got that euphemism from. Kill them with kindness. Anybody else? The most difficult thing to do in the Bible, turn the other cheek, love your enemy. Yeah. It's counterintuitive to our human nature.

Our human nature wants to retaliate. Our human nature wants to reach out and react in a wrong way. And so this takes serious conviction. This takes serious effort. This takes a willingness to want to make sure that who are we honoring? Are we honoring ourselves by retaliating or are we to honor God by being obedient? Someone else. Anybody else? Well, it's really tough because uh I almost look at it like the other verse that you covered not too long ago where it was considered the audience. Mhm. And you know there's got to be some limitation. How long do you keep turning the cheek?

How long do you keep uh it's it's Yeah. You do it and let it go. I guess that's okay. Yeah. Clyde, it's discernment, right? So, we have to be we have to listen to the Holy Spirit because Christ also commanded when he sent the disciples off on their first trip, he said, "Listen, if they won't accept you, shake the dust off your sandals and continue to go." And so we have to have a discernment, right? You have to be able to know if you if you've hired a housekeeper and the housekeeper keeps stealing from you, you can love them. You can love that person.

You can come around them and support them, but I'm probably taking the key to my house away, right? That's I'm I'm not going to continue to let them in my house to continue to keep stealing from me. And we have we have to employ wisdom and discernment and these processes as well, too. But I can still love that person. How did I love them? I didn't call the authorities. Maybe I need to give them an extra 200. Why are they stealing? Do they need more work? Do are they not charging enough? What's going on in their life? Maybe I should sit down and have a conversation with them.

Are you stealing because it's fun? You get a you there's a high or are you stealing because you're trying to feed somebody? Let's talk about that. Let me help you if I can. That is what God wants us to do. And then use wisdom. Well, yeah. Well, you know, I need five grand. what? I'm not giving you five grand and I am going to take the key to my house away, but hey, I don't mind paying an extra 50 bucks a job or let me give you a few hundred dollars if that helps. What whatever that situation looks like. But that's discernment. That's having a that's praying.

That's talking to the Holy Spirit, finding out where it is we need to go and how we need to help love that person through that process. But great great point, Clyde. But everything everything you're saying Dwayne goes all also with the the part of this is something that gives you spiritual growth. It's more like if you cannot pass this with what the verse is telling us then you're going to have a hard time to go to your next spiritual level of your life because of course you need to discern to know when to stop. But at the same time, if you look at it as a spiritual goal, something that uh process of your life to be able to go to your next level.

Yeah. It's too it's sanctification. And I and and I and I would tell you so if I I don't want it's a 926. And I don't want to tell you the whole story, but I blew it this I blew it not yesterday, the day before. I I I I had to blow a U-turn in the truck and I pulled into a a restaurant. I was meeting someone to give him a tool or sell him a tool and and it was and I I don't I'm presuming that the woman waso homeless, but for some reason she felt like I was going to hit her and she gives me the finger and so rather than coming out of the out of the truck with kindness and going, you know, hey, listen, I'm so sorry.

My hands up. I apologize. I didn't mean to scare you. No, how did I react? I reacted like I I like I like I didn't know what I was talking about today, right? And so I blew it. And so im and im immediately like I walked inside that restaurant to go find the guy and I was just immediately convicted. I I I I did the business. I got back in the truck and I just prayed for forgiveness because that's not how I should have respond. I don't know what that lady was going through. I have no idea what she was going through that day. But I know that she didn't see the love of Christ when when he got out of the truck and I blew that.

And so all I could do is ask for forgiveness. I even literally drove down the street after that trying to because she was walking trying to find her and I couldn't find her. So it's in God's hands. I I blew it. So but but but but that's the point is it's it's not it's not in our human nature to respond that way. And so we have to grow in our spiritual maturity as James said. And this is how we do this. So I would just pray that next time I someone gives me the finger driving my truck that I just don't respond that way. So that's pray for me, please.

All right. 9:28. Let's uh let's bow our heads. Let's close out. All right, let's bow our heads. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much uh today, Lord. Let's Father, we pray for softer hearts. We pray that because Lord, I know that each and every person on this call has that person in their life or that that Yeah. has that person in their life that maybe it's it's a it's just a tough time communicating with them. Maybe it's that person that they never see eye to eye with. And Father, I just pray that you would give us the softer heart, Father. Whe it's for that person or the random encounter, Lord, where where we blow it and and and where we should have we should have been a witness where we should have been the the the the embodiment of what you would ask us to do, Father, and we and we don't.

That Lord, that you would soften our hearts, that you would the Holy Spirit would convict us, Lord, that we would continue to grow in our maturity as Jimmy said. Father, we just thank you for these mornings. We thank you for your word, for your time, for the the technology that we can even do this. We love you. We praise you. And as always, in your son Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. All if you're new on here, we we don't do this on Fridays. So if you come tomorrow, you'll be you'll be mostly alone. So we'll see you back on Monday.

And I hope everyone gets to a church this Sunday. You guys have a great weekend. God bless you. God bless you guys. Have a good weekend. Blessed day, guys.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly edited for readability.