Every so often there has been mentioned situations involving true believers that can be confusing and difficult to understand. One of which is when those who oppose the ways of Christian life are raised up against us and often to our own demise in some form or fashion. On the extreme end we see believers killed for what they believe and it seems to get to be more common, especially overseas. Persecution like this is one area that our Lord Jesus Christ told us to expect as we proclaim His message to the world. In the very day lives of Christians we sometimes see those raised up against us like they were blessed by God to do so. Not every case is such but there are some where this could be true.

In the cases where God hardens the hearts of our enemies it is often a case of exposing them for what they are and to prompt an action on our part. For those whose enemy caused them to be fired from a job, sometimes it is to lead to a better job or direction. In more serious cases we have seen true believers taken to court and prosecuted. A large majority were innocent while some committed offenses and broke the law and had either the full sentence or beyond the full sentence weighed against them. Some served time in jail in both cases.

If we were to find inspiration for God hardening the hearts of our enemies if very well is that the end result glorifies God.

One extreme case was found in the Bible in Joshua 11:

Here Joshua and the Israelites were sweeping across the Promised Land and conquering it one city and one king at a time then we see the passage where God deliberately hardened the hearts of the enemy:

20 For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

While the battles were fierce the hardening of their hearts served a purpose. It bought out the evil in them as judgment against them leading to their demise. In Joshua’s case if provided a reason to exterminate his enemies without mercy.

In one case of this type of event in recent times a believer I knew was brought to court and persecuted for not paying child support though he had done so and it was approved by another court. He spent years going to trial and suffering through the false accusations of a corrupt judge. Somebody who knew the case leaked it to the media all across the country and the scrutiny it placed on the judge put him in a position where he was forced to resign and the case was closed. The corrupt judges name was placed in a data base of known corrupt judges in the US and remains there to this day.

While a Christian can suffer against an enemy that was hardened by God and often does, we have to look at the bigger picture and that it will all work together for our good in the end. No matter what a true believer still has God as their father and he still fights our battles for us. Ultimately the end result is we do win in the end!

Your Brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig

Lakeshore Fellowship