How To Survive When Your Enemies Receives God’s Grace

Have you ever been in the position where you have seen your enemy get blessed by God? Like, I mean, it can be the very person that wronged you or hurt you. Then, you turn around, and they get blessed in a tremendous way. Right in front of your face. Doesn’t it make you angry? Doesn’t it seem unfair? Doesn’t it seem like God is not keeping up with His end of the bargain?

It seems like it just isn’t right. I will be the first one to say that it makes me angry and I believe it is unfair. I don’t like that God blesses my enemies, especially the ones who did me wrong. Like, why is it that they get blessed first and I get thought of last? Ion like dat.

I understand that God is a loving God and He cares for all. But, sometimes, I just gotta ask Jesus, “Can you care about your own people for a second? Like the ones who are really out here trying and being pure for you?! Can you cut us the check FIRST?!” It just doesn’t seem fair that the people that wronged you get blessed before you.

If it sounds like I am whining, I am. If it sounds like I am two year old having a temper tantrum, then, yes I am. I know I look foolish, but some of ya’ll looking foolish with me because ya’ll secretly feel the same way. It’s okay to admit and its okay to be honest about feeling this way sometimes.

However, I can’t get away with this feeling for long. Holy Spirit often interjects and reminds me of His Mercy.

Right now, I am reminded of the story of prodigal son. Right now, I feel like the son who stuck around and did not leave his father, tending to the fields, animals, and farms. I feel forgotten. Yet, I believe it is important that we actively and deliberately celebrate the one that God goes after. But what about the ninety-nine left behind waiting on the attention of the Sheppard?

Often times, I feel their loneliness and despair of being the seemingly forgotten ones because they’ve been abiding by God’s Word but no longer feel as though they are being treated as special.

Often times, I feel the sadness that they feel. I empathize with those who feel that they will never get the celebration that the prodigal son received because they made their due by staying and working so hard and so diligently.

So, often I wonder, where is our celebration? Where is our time? Why do our enemies get it first and we seemingly come last? What’s up with that God?

I ask all these questions and only come to spiritual conclusions. There is only a black and white answer for this. There are no gray areas; no ways to slip back in and be center of focus again.

However, looking at this, and talking about it “out loud”, I realize this: The other son is to be admired because he did stay. Consistency takes hard work. It’s not a simple plant and growth; it takes pruning, pulling of weeds, learning the soil, and nurturing the site before anything fruitful can grow.

I believe that I realize that God left the ninety-nine because He knew that when they received the celebrations when they were the lost ones, it was okay to leave them alone. They would never stray. They received the truth and pureness of the Lord and Savior.

Thats why it was easy for the other son to stay. He loved his father and knew how much it hurt him to see the prodigal son flee. He didn’t want to bring that hurt to him as well. So he stayed and continued to be consistent, knowing that he would receive his just due.

Even though it was a hard pill to swallow that the prodigal son got his inheritance earlier than his brother; it was the consistency that proceeded and made him as equal to his brother.

Often times when we see our enemies getting blessed before us, we believe that we are in a silent competition with them. That we just have to show up and show out about God before they do.

I don’t think we realize that we are not in competition with them, but we are in competition with ourselves. I know that I always find that I am trying to out beat myself. I have realized that this is not right and it is not true to the consistency that God has expected me to be in.

It shouldn’t even be thought of among the ninety-nine because we have been placed in a different level. We have been asked and trusted to attend to the pasture and not focus on losing out on a celebration. We are being celebrated in our consistency with Christ.

And that’s how we survive our enemies being blessed; Knowing that our consistency hasn’t been forgotten by the One True God. He has trusted us so much that He knows that by fruits harvested and seeds planted during our coming home celebrations, we can be so trusted not to sway nor leave the presence of God.

God hasn’t forgotten us; He trusts us. He knows that once we have experienced a good party, we won’t leave no matter how much the attention may seem like it is focused elsewhere. For He is always with us.

Scripture referred

Luke 15:11-32