As Christians we cannot cherry pick the Bible. Somehow praying for our enemy has to work with David’s sentiments to destroy the wicked from the land and to hate those who hate God with a holy hatred. After all, other than when David was called out for his sin with Bathsheba, God depicts him as a man after God’s own heart.
Then there is also Samson who got really cozy with the enemies of God’s people, to His own hurt. At the end of his life Samson prayed for a return of his strength so that he could deal a crushing blow to God’s enemies and God gave it to him.
Judges 16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
The call to love our neighbor and pray for those who persecute us I think might best be depicted in the story of Jonah with the Ninevites. If God chooses to use our witness to cause people to repent then we should not have a stinking attitude about it. However, Jonah didn’t go there and tell them; “God is love and has a wonderful plan for your life.” He told them;
4 … “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Jonah’s message was clear; “God is opposed to you”
Jonah’s words caused them to repent in sackcloth and ashes.
Loving our neighbor means to faithfully extend God’s law while praying for their repentance and it doesn’t mean acting has if foreign invaders who hate God are equivalent to neighbors just because they are here now. However, that does not mean we withhold justice from either the invaders or our people. We do not try to make the nations into our neighbors while selling out our children’s future and inheritance. We must realize that our children are our primary neighbor. That’s the whole idea of the Ordo Amoris.
God’s people is his Church. Therefore we must be faithful to protect those who are Christians and stop being ok with passive types of invasion. We must cease insisting that since foreigners got proximally close to us we have to love them as we understand familial love.
Yes we have to love them as we are to love all mankind by holding them to the law and yes we should pray for their repentance but unless and until they repent they are to be opposed and hated as David hates those who hate God as Samson destroys those who are opposed to God’s people.
