The Hands of My Enemies

             My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. (Psalm 31:15)

                The etymology of the word enemy comes from “not” and “love.” An enemy, then, is someone who doesn’t love you. But what does it mean to love you? There seem to be two keys. Someone who loves you wants what is in your best interest and wants to be around and pay attention to you. That means that the person who wants to kill you is your enemy, but so is the person who claims to love you, but who encourages you or manipulates you to do things that aren’t really good for you. Those “friends” who encourage sexual activity outside of marriage, drinking “a few beers,” trying drugs, watching some porn, eating unhealthfully, or other sins, are your enemies. They may claim to be friends.  They aren’t. They may claim to love you. They don’t. And if you spend time with that sort of person, listen to them, and/or do those things, you are your enemy.

                In C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape writes to a junior devil about his desire to tempt his “patient” to really great sins. Screwtape explains that separating the patient from “The Enemy” (AKA God) is the important thing, not the distance by which they are separated. Murder might be exciting, but if a game of cards  can move the patient away, it’s the direction to go. After all, murder is more likely to set off an alarm of conscience than a game of cards. We don’t even stop to wonder whether the card game is harmless.

                What can make it even worse is that sometimes, the things our enemies tempt or challenge us to do  can be presented to us as good, and the things we believe we should do described as evil. If you do not accept, approve, and applaud someone for something, you’re an evil thing-a-phobe. Some even insist that you must participate or you’re wicked. How can you be so hateful and cruel? If you haven’t noticed, the same is not true if “they” fail to accept, approve, applaud, or participate in something you think is good and they don’t.

                We’re surrounded by enemies. One might even say that we’re inhabited or possessed by them. The possession is of a sort that would make a boring horror film. A priest can’t exactly exorcise your self, but your self often coaxes, manipulates, and even demands behavior that’s not what’s best for you. The only solution or salvation must come from One who is outside of us, vastly more powerful, and good to the point where the things that tempt us don’t tempt Him, and our wishes aren’t His command. We need God to deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and from those who pursue us, especially when we have met the enemy and he is us (as Pogo said.)