“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink” (Proverbs 25:21, NASB).
It seems the Iraqi army took Proverbs 25:21 literally a couple of weeks ago…accidently that is!
According to recent reports, “Iraqi military pilots mistakenly gave food, water and ammunition to enemy ISIS militants instead of their own soldiers.” Apparently, Iraqi pilots mistakenly dropped supplies over an area controlled by ISIS and not to their soldiers who are currently fighting ISIS.
When asked about this mistake, a member of the Iraqi parliament said:
“Those soldiers were in deadly need of these supplies, but because of the wrong plans of the commanders in the Iraqi army and lack of experience of the pilots, we in a [sic] way or another helped ISIS fighters to kill our soldiers.”
In explaining the event, a brigadier-general in Iraq’s Defense Ministry said, “Yes, that’s what had [sic] happened,” some air force pilots “do not have enough experience… they are all young and new.”
When the Apostle Paul quoted Proverbs 25:21 in Romans 12:20, this isn’t exactly what he had in mind. Feeding one’s “enemy” is a noble idea, when done on purpose. It is a sign that you are not going to take vengeance. Rather, you trust that the Lord will work out everything properly in His time. It is an act of grace and mercy.
But accidentally feeding your enemy, because of carelessness and a lack of planning, is a serious danger. Children of God must take great care to ensure that they are dropping resources in the right places. This is especially true in training the “young and new.”
Satan is prowling about, like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Give it some thought…where have you been dropping resources? Have you been feeding the Lord’s army or sending supplies across enemy lines?
Every time you feed Satan, he grows stronger and is able to devour more souls of soldiers in the faith. Beware; his next meal might be one you dropped his way!
