We usually take great pleasure when our enemy falls or fails.  After all, they would delight in our demise as well.   We may take their defeat as personal vindication or as a triumph of justice.  The following scripture adds a different dimension to our reaction that we should consider:

Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him. Proverbs 24:17-18

We know that David was deemed to be “a man after God’s own heart,” so his life should be instructive to us.  King Saul falsely accused David of wanting his thrown and made numerous attempts to kill him.  Finally, when Israel engaged in battle against the Philistines, Saul and his three sons are killed. Saul had relentlessly hunted David and his men for several years.  David had been forced to live in the desert wilderness during that time with the threat of death hanging over his head daily.  

When the report of Saul’s death reached David, it seems it would have been cause for celebration, but his response was somewhat unexpected.  The text says, “Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan…” (2 Sam. 1:11-12). Saul would have gladly killed all of them if he had been given the opportunity.  He had branded them as outlaws and many had been separated from their families for months or years because of Saul’s jealousies. And yet, instead of celebrating they mourned.

This response reveals the heart of God toward those who oppose him.  Sometimes we view God as an angry God who takes delight in destroying the wicked. However, God laments, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live” (Ezek. 18:23).

This does not suggest we cannot celebrate a victory, but our heart towards our defeated enemies must be one of compassion rather than vengeance.  We should, at least, regret the loss of what could have been if a nation or person had taken a different path.  We might regret the fact that a wicked man will never have an opportunity to repent and be saved if his life is taken. The key is to value all men and women who have been made in the image of God and to mourn or regret what could have been if other decisions had been made.  Remember, Jesus still calls us to “love our enemies.”

As we enter the last few months of this heated election season, it might be good to remember that those who hold very different views than we hold are still made in the image of God and are still loved by him.  Some may even be destroyed politically in this season and we, as God’s people, should not gloat or rejoice at their demise.  Instead, we might that God might use their humiliation to bring them to a place of repentance and salvation if needed. 

We see wickedness in this world and want it to be defeated.  That is a godly desire.  But how we view those we see as enemies is a place where we all need to guard our hearts.  I am sure that you, like me, would love for God to say that we are a man or woman after God’s own heart.