On Being God's enemy

I was reading my bible the other day and a verse just struck me as amazing. Before I get into that verse I have some questions. Who is God’s enemy? What does God do with His enemies?

James 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

This doesn’t specify whether the people are believers in Jesus or not. If we claim to follow Jesus but are friendly with the world then this verse is pretty clear.

Parts of the world have crept into the church. Many times when we go to a church it is not very different from the world.

Based on the above verse I don’t think that God likes that.

James 4:6 “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

We can see how the world proclaims to have pride in various things and act as though it is good.

Have pride if you want God to resist or oppose you.

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, And an haughty spirit before a fall.” This verse is warning us against the sin of pride and is letting us know that we will falll and be destroyed.

I thought it important to explain a little about the enemy of God and a little about pride to make my next point.

I was pride before my rebirthday. If you would like to you can view that episode for clarity on this.

I was God’s enemy because of my pride and how I was a friend of the world

I want to make it clear that I was an enemy of God. Many of us are enemies of God and don’t even realize it. We all think that we are good people.

Now the verse that stopped me in my tracks Psalm 68:21 “But God shall wound the head of his enemies, And the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.”

I was God’s enemy and he cared enough to wound the head of this enemy.

God didn’t allow what happened to me out of hatred or malice. His word clearly states what will happen to His enemies.

I know some people think that God only wants to hurt people and that He is angry all of the time. God is actually storing up His wrath for the day that is coming. That is the day that He will pour it out on the earth. Romans 2:5 “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”

Lamentations 3:33 “For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.”

I submit to you that God doesn’t want any to suffer 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

So if all of these verses are put together then we see that God did not let my head get wounded because He wanted to. He did it rather because that was the way to strip me of my pride and also to make it to where I could see that I had a desperate need for a savior.

It also gave me an opportunity to study scripture and to realize the truth of my situation and my eventual location for eternity.

Imagine the freedom that comes when we are able to realize that God had certain parts to His character that never change. God is just, God is also holy. God always deliver’s justice and will never sin so He won’t do things like lie. God is merciful and full of grace. This means that God doesn’t give sinners what we deserve like hell. It also means that He will give us what we don’t deserve in a positive way, like Jesus.

If we are ever curious how God feels about sin all we have to do is look to His Son. Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

So the fact that God demonstrates grace and mercy to sinners is very humbling.

It is humbling because God doesn’t need anything from us

We are using faulty logic when we think that we will get even with God when we are mad at Him by not believing in Him anymore. Matthew 11:6 “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

When God wounded the head of His enemy He made no apology. Someone like me benefitted from the Lord and what He did others like Goliath did not. 1 Samuel 17:49 “And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.” I encourage you to not be an enemy of the Lord. It is easy to tell where you stand are you a friend of the world? I encourage you to spend time in the Word of God.