DO NOT REJOICE WHEN YOUR ENEMY FALLS

“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 (NKJV)

• When you are being persecuted or mistreated by someone, you tend to wish evil on the person, you wish God’s wrath come on him or her.

God promises to fight for His children, avenge them on their enemies; however, when He does, it is not a thing to rejoice at—it calls for sober reflection instead (Luke 18:7,8; proverbs 17:5).
God does not want sinners to perish, but to come to repentance. Even if God avenges for you on your enemies, do not rejoice over it (2 Peter 3:9).
The reason being that, God does not want the person to perish, although He would allow him to reap the fruit of the evil he has sown—but it is not God’s delight (2 Peter 3:9).
“deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
1 Corinthians 5:5(NKJV)

• God does not want anyone to go to hell, because the place was not made for human beings in the first place—it was made for the devil and his angels.
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘DEPART FROM ME, YOU CURSED, INTO THE EVERLASTING FIRE PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS.”
Matthew 25:41 (NKJV)

Nonetheless, some human beings will choose to go there, even though it was not God’s will and plan for them to go there, that is, hell—but they will go there anyway, because they chose to!
Ending their journey in hell is a choice they made by refusing to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord—the only way to God the Father (John 3:17-19; 14:6).

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3:17,18 (NKJV)

It is not the delight of God for anyone to perish, because He paid a costly price to redeem mankind—God gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9).

• If you rejoice because someone who hates you falls, God may reverse his case or predicament (Proverbs 24:18).

Instances in the Bible that show to us that we should not rejoice when those who hate us, or those who stand as enemies, fall:
When God told Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted, in which he asked for wisdom, understanding heart! God was delighted in what He asked for, that Solomon did not ask for the life of his enemies. In other words, God would not have been delighted, if Solomon did ask for the life of his enemies (1 Kings 3:9-13).
David wanted to build the Temple for God, but God did not allow him; He said, his hands, David’s hands, had shed much blood—because he had been a man of war (1 Chronicles 22:7,8; 28:2,3).
David’s reason for shedding blood was genuine, he was a ruler and a soldier, he had to defend his nation—yet God did not allow him to build the Temple for Him (Romans 13:3,4).
One can conclude or deduce from the incident that, shedding of blood, destruction of the enemies, is still not God’s delight—either the destruction is legitimate or illegitimate.
David’s destroying of the enemies was right, yet God did not allow him to build the Temple for Him—for the reason that he had shed a lot of blood (1 Chronicles 28:2,3).

• Therefore, do not rejoice, when your enemies fall (Proverbs 24:17; Matthew 5:43-45).

Job said he had never allowed that to happen once, that is, to ask for the downfall of his enemies.

“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted myself up when evil found him
(Indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for a curse on his soul).”
Job 31:29,30 (NKJV)

• If the destruction of the enemies were good and delightful, God would not have mentioned it as the reason why He would not allow David to build the Temple for Him (1Chronicles 22:7,8).

Also, He would not have commended Solomon for not asking the lives of his enemies (1 Kings 3:10,11).

• When calamities fall on someone who hates you, do not rejoice over it—it is not a thing to gloat about.

If God chooses to discipline or punish those who hate you, let Him do as He wills; but it is not for you to rejoice at it—do not gloat over it (Obadiah 12-14).

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
“But I say to you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, bless those who curse you, DO GOOD to those who HATE YOU, and PRAY for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:43-46 (NKJV)

• You will not fail in Jesus’ name.
Peace!