YAY, I WIN! YAY, YOU LOSE!

  

When we've been wronged we want justice.  Actually a lot of the time, we don't want justice. We want vengeance. And we want God to give it to us.

And God promises to deliver.  In the New Testament, Paul referenced the Lord’s assurance that:

Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;

Their foot shall slip in due time;

For the day of their calamity is at hand,

And the things to come hasten upon them.’ (Deuteronomy 32: 35)

David was so happy about it that he wrote these lyrics: :

 It is God who avenges me,

And subdues the peoples under me;

He delivers me from my enemies.

You also lift me up above those who rise against me;

You have delivered me from the violent man.

Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles,

And sing praises to Your name.  (2 Samuel 22: 48-50/ Psalm 18: 47-49)

Like David, we rejoice when we win.

Or, are we rejoicing that our adversaries have lost?

Does your praise mean, “Thank you, Lord, that I won”?

Or does your praise mean, “Thank you Lord, that they lost”?

Nope.  It’s not the same thing.  Not according to the Bible.

David’s son, Solomon, wrote:

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,

And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;

Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him,

And He turn away His wrath from him. (Proverbs 24: 17,18)

God very specifically states that He doesn’t like it when we like it when our enemies catch a beat-down.  In fact, it bothers God so much to see us gloating that He might stop in the middle of administering said beat-down and just let your enemy go ---- unpunished.

Jesus said,  “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” --- Jesus (Luke 6: 27-28)

You can’t honestly love, pray for, and bless people while you’re celebrating their destruction.

Of all David’s enemies, the one who caused him the most stress was his predecessor, King Saul.   David was unwaveringly loyal to Saul, but the old king was psychotically jealous of David. (It all started in 1 Samuel 18: 5-9.)  

Saul tried to set him up to be killed in battle.  He tried to have him assassinated.  He threw a spear at David with premeditated intent to drive it through the young man’s chest so hard that David would be left hanging from the far wall.   He tried that twice.

But God was on David’s side.  God put Saul in a completely vulnerable position where David could have easily killed the crazy old king.  The Lord did that twice (1 Samuel 24 & 26),

But David wouldn’t take the shot. 

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath (Romans 12: 19)

Way back in the Old Testament, David understood that vengeance belonged to God.  God would deliver payback--- in God’s own time.    

…for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12: 19b)

David sincerely loved his enemy.  And when bad things happen to someone you love, you don’t rejoice; you mourn.  When David heard that Saul had been killed in battle,

David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.  And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening… (2 Samuel 1: 11, 12)

David became king.  Saul was killed, but not by David or David’s orders.  David totally won because he didn’t try to make his enemy totally lose.

Maybe that’s why we can’t completely win.  Maybe that’s why we have to keep fighting enemies we’d already beaten:  because we’re so happy to see our enemies fall.

And when we celebrate their defeat, God sees and it displeases Him and He stops beating them down, and we have to deal with them all over again.

Kinda explains a lot of American history.  

Kinda explains a lot of personal history, too.

   

Be glad you got the job.  Don't be glad them other fools are still broke.

Be happy that your son's team won.  Don't be happy that the opposing quarterback got hurt.

Thank God for the undeserved redemption and grace He purchased for you by the blood of Jesus Christ.  But don't do the that's-what-you-heathens-get dance when you hear about a Muslim or Hindhu girl disfigured by an acid attack or honor killing.

Cry out for deliverance.  God will answer.  Thank God, and move forward.  But don’t gloat.  Don’t brag.   Don’t forget that your salvation isn't justice.  It's mercy.

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.  (Matthew 5:7)

Be merciful to your enemies.  Treat your haters with love.    

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;

And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

For so you will heap coals of fire on his head,

And the Lord will reward you. (Proverbs 25: 21, 22)

Love those who want you to lose. 

It’s the only sure for you way to win.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

#Awordtothewise

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

HOW WINNERS LOSE

In the final two chapters of the book of Judges, Israel was divided into 2 warring factions.  There was an eleven tribe super-majority of “Israel” against the one-tribe minority of Benjamin.  In chapter 20, “Israel” went to war against the Israelites in the tribe of Benjamin.

The majority party represented the country and used its power to attack the minority party as though they weren’t citizens of the same country.  But, to be clear, the grounds for the attack were absolutely correct.  

(The reason was a horrific crime and a miscarriage of criminal justice. I wrote about it in a post called  “The Ugliest Chapters.”)

Before God let Israel win on the 3^rd day, He  sent them into two days of battle where Israel was slaughtered by the Benjamite minority.    Losses were heavy on both sides, kinda like the Lord was punishing both parties.

Israel ultimately won and in Judges 20:36-39, the national government punished the criminals who had escaped local justice.  But they didn’t stop there. 

The men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to. (Judges 20: 48)

Israel also swore an oath (signed a pledge) that “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” ( Judges 21: 1) 

With only about 600 Benjamite men surviving the incursion, this pledge amounted to genocide. 

See?  The ruling faction didn’t just deal with the issue; they set about to destroy everything and everybody associated with their opponents in the minority.

Sometimes the Republicans are the majority and the Democrats are Benjamin.  Sometimes, it’s the other way around.   Sometimes the old heads outnumber young adults 11-1.  Sometimes the younger perspective has a super-majority of support.

But when any human coalition comes into power in anger, Scripture and history teach us that no matter who the humans are, they tend to take their “mandate” too, too far.

You can win the war and lose your souls.

Here’s how you know that your group has crossed the line.  4 points. 

#1) You regret your own policies--- in secret.

God’s Law was careful, explicit, and emphatic about preserving both the national and tribal integrity of Israel.  There was a whole system of redemption and return to insure that no tribe would ever be without land.   

They [Israel] lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, ^and said, “O Lord God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?” (Judges 21: 2-3)

#2) You have defeated the enemy but become the bad guys when you turn on  your own people when their morality contrasts your mistakes.   

 

Israel  made a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the Lord at Mizpah [against Benjamin], saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” (Judges 21: 5)

One clan had not participated in the slaughter of their countrymen, and for that offense, Israel attacked Jabesh Gilead. (Judges 21: 8-11)

#3) Your side has gone from victors to villains when you break your own rules trying to secretly sabotage a platform you publicly support.

Having signed a pledge committing themselves to never intermarry with the Benjamites, Israel arranged for the Benjamites to kidnap young women from the majority tribes while they looked the other way  (Judges 21: 12-24).

#4) Your victorious faction that has lost its corporate soul when you start blaming God for the consequences of you disobeying God.   

^

And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel. (Judges 21: 15)

Wait.  Who voided one of the tribes?   

Killing off ALL of Benjamin and preventing the survivors from reproducing was not God’s idea.

The Word of God commands us to hold criminals and corrupt officials accountable. But God does not give us license to target an entire community or an entire class of officials.

You don’t get to kill Black people just because they’re Black or police officers just because they’re police officers and then blame the ensuing chaos on God.

You don’t get to murder homosexuals just for being gay or discredit pastors just for believing what the Bible says about homosexuality and say that it’s what Jesus wants.

Well you can, because like the Jews in the time of Judges, we live in a culture where there is no king and everyone does what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21: 25)

But if we let our power overrun God’s commands, we clear a path for everyone’s destruction. 

As I said in an earlier blog, the book of Judges is written out of chronological order.  The final chapters actually happened first.   In the rest of the book of Judges, the Jewish nation, Benjamin and all, spend the next few centuries in serial subjugation.   

Their Promised Land became an oppressed land because they did what we are doing.

1)      We come to power in anger and make rules that we regret.

2)      We attack our own people when they refuse to follow us into sin.

3)      We make unethical backroom deals with our opponents while we publicly pretend to support the official platform.

4)      And we blame God for all the chaos we create. 

This is how a victorious nation becomes a culture of losers. 

Consider it, take counsel, and speak. (Judges 19: 30)

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

LOSING JESUS

Have you ever lost something that you didn’t realize you’d lost until you were far away from the place you’d lost it?  You know, like leaving something in a hotel room and not realizing it until you get home and start unpacking. 

Now imagine that the something you lost is someone, and imagine that the someone you lost is your child.

Now imagine that the child you lost ------------ is Jesus.
LOSING JESUS.

Listen well.

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Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com  
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If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to:

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116