WISDOM AND ENEMIES - Part I

Wisdom is something that will save your butt every time. If we take an honest look at the things that have caused us the most pain, and not stopped at the shallow level of blaming someone or something as the cause of the pain, we can get to the bottom line of truth: we didn’t use wisdom and our choices bit us in the butt at the very least and completely chewed it off in some cases.

I was recently asked about the relationship between wisdom and doing good to your enemies, prompted by a verse in the book of Proverbs in the Bible which is quoted by Jesus about doing good to those who hate or persecute you.

While it is true that Jesus wants us to love our enemies by doing good to them instead of repaying evil for evil, He also expects balance. Wisdom says you don’t walk more than once behind a horse that kicks. You can forgive the horse for kicking you (the well-known “70 times 7 Rule” that humbled Peter), but you don’t walk behind him again. To do so would be foolish. Shooting the horse for kicking you would be repaying evil for evil. Forgiving the horse for kicking you and purposely not walking behind him again is wisdom.

The catch seems to be somewhere in between. Most people who have been kicked by the proverbial horse will waste vast amounts of time and energy trying to teach the horse not to kick. This is insanity. When there are so many horses with a compliant and pleasant disposition, why would you waste time trying to change the very nature of the one that kicks? Many years of raising and training horses has taught me this: you can teach a horse not to kick but the amount of frustration and time it takes to accomplish it is not worth it. You will only change the behavior … you will never take his “want to” away. The end result is a horse that will give you the action you desire but will never give you his heart or trust. It will be a continuous battle of wills.

Why would you desire a constant fight rather than a peaceful, pleasant ride? Wisdom says, “Accept the horse as he is, knowing his faults, and work around them. Let him be useful for whatever purpose he was created, but don’t walk behind him.” If you are intent on getting the horse to behave as you think he should, that is not wisdom – that is a dual issue of pride and control. Pride says, “I’m not going to let that horse get the best of me! I’ll show him who’s boss!” Control says, “He just doesn’t understand that it’s in his best interest to (fill in the blank). I know what’s best and he needs to comply. If he would just do things my way, everything would be fine. If he doesn’t do what I want, I’ll make his life miserable until he complies.”

We all know there are times in life that people can seem to be our enemies. Horses are much easier to work with than people! It is especially difficult when a person continues to inflict pain on you despite your best efforts to do them good. This is where God expects us to use wisdom, the root of which is love.   

To be continued …