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Proverbs 24:19–22

19 Fret not thyself because of evil men,

Neither be thou envious at the wicked;

20  For there shall be no reward to the evil man;

The candle of the wicked shall be put out.

21  My son, fear thou the Lord and the king:

And meddle not with them that are given to change:

22  For their calamity shall rise suddenly;

And who knoweth the ruin of them both?

Many are the trials and afflictions of all who that seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. Our rescue and refuge may only be found in the strong tower of our Lord. He is a protective, jealous, and loving Father. He is our rescuer and deliverer. Only in Him will we find the strength to endure the attacks, slanders, malicious gossiping, accusations, and lies of the enemy.

We are not to fear the wicked that shoot their fiery darts. Those that can not rest until they have devised mischief. We are to only fear the Lord and the King. We must not fret because of these wicked people, not be envious that it seems to go well with them. In truth we may have great pity on their souls because there shall be no reward to the evil doer, their candle will be put out.

But we are those that wait on the Lord, we are His Bride, that have supplied our lamps with His oil. Our lamps will not be snuffed out and we will see our Lord coming. As difficult as it may be we must not allow ourselves to become entangled with these evil doers. We may seek to defend ourselves, to clear our names, but we must wait on the Lord for His rescue and deliverance. The Lord is our defender. This is a hard lesson. They may entice us to engage by slander, but we must refrain and wait on the Lord.

The Lord tells us very plainly that their calamity will rise suddenly. Those that dig a pit will fall into it themselves. Those that set themselves against the children of our Heavenly Father will come to ruin, and it does not depend on us. This is fully according to the predetermined plan of God made before the foundation of the world.

So far as it depends on us we are to be at peace with all men. We are to pray for our enemies, and as we pray for them we can not help but to love them. To hope that our all good, knowing, and wise God will also rescue them. For we were sinners also and He rescued us. All of our sins were crimes against His holiness, and in patience, and long suffering, He was gracious to us. He repaid us good for our evil. We pray that for our enemies today.

More often than not our enemies today are the same as the enemies that crucified our Lord. Jesus did them no harm, yet they murdered Him. They slew the Christ because they hated God. Satan worked through them, and though it seemed that the devil may have prevailed by accomplishing his evil deeds, it was in fact a snare that he set capturing only himself. And though his wickedness was carried out he was only accomplishing salvation for the world. That Christ was lifted up on the cross only succeeded according to the plan of God to draw all men to Himself, and to utterly destroy the works of the devil.

This is what the plan of our enemies today will also accomplish. We will only glorify God as we thankfully and joyfully embrace our affliction. Our enemies in truth are only His enemies. Our enemies are permitting Satan to work through them as they seek to dethrone God, and our Lord tells us most assuredly in His Word over and over that their wickedness will come to naught.

Pray for your enemies, love them through prayer for their very souls which may be required of them even this night. Do not allow a bitter root to grow. Take the anger and pain that they cause and lay it at the foot of the cross. For surely there is an end and our expectation will not be cut off. Say not thou I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord and He shall save thee.