Last week it was announced that Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl would not be given any prison time for abandoning his post, going AWOL, and being captured by the Taliban. He could have received life in prison for aiding the enemy in a time of war. Many thought he should have, especially since his actions caused some of the soldiers who were tasked with searching for him to come under fire and sustain life-long injuries.
When the lack of prison time was announced social media went berserk. That’s the only way I can describe it. People were calling for someone to shoot Bergdahl, or for him to “do the right thing and commit suicide.” It’s been awhile since I have seen such merciless comments. I did not find one post from anyone offering grace or mercy. The man has developed vicious enemies that may dog him the rest of his life.
Did you give anymore thought to what I wrote yesterday in Romans 8:31: “[Since] God is for us”?
Did you perhaps think about Paul’s following question? “Who can be against us?”
We make enemies in this life, many times through our own mistakes and failures. But if there is one enemy you don’t want to have, it would be God. God would be the worst imaginable enemy ever.
What Paul was trying to tell us in this passage is that those who come against us (God’s children) are making One Powerful Enemy. God is for us. God stands with us in the Good News of the Gospel. To fight against God’s children is to fight against God.
