Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.

Proverbs 24:17

This is yet another hard command. We don’t even need the Evil One to tempt us on this one. We do a good enough job by ourselves! This is just good old-fashioned human nature to cheer when our enemy, maybe even a bad guy or gal, falls out of favor with the American public! We say things like; “They deserve it.” Or “It took long enough.” Or “Lock ‘em up and throw away the key.” And, it may be, that this enemy does deserve it. They may have made your life miserable or a whole society miserable for a long time. And they may need to be in prison, even for a lifetime. But, God says; “Don’t rejoice!”

The language here is active, not passive. In fact, we need to notice that when it comes to our heart, it is never passive. Our inner-self…the combination of emotions and mind and soul…is always active within us; it’s just a matter of what it is active with. If we fill our hearts with malice, revenge, jealousy, anger, self-righteousness and the like; then we will be full of joy when our enemies (and there are probably many when our hearts are filled with this kind of ugly) fall and stumble.

But, if we fill our hearts with prayers for those who persecute us and love for our enemies and praise Jesus for the forgiveness washing our own sins white as snow; then we will be sad to hear the news that an enemy has fallen. We will fully understand why they fell. We will agree that the consequences they received were inevitable and righteous judgements. But, we will be sad that this person or persons did not repent and turn aside from their wicked ways. We will regret harm done because of them to those who are their family and friends. And we will pray that God will intervene in this life and call them to repentance. But, we will not rejoice. 

We must continually guard our hearts…

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if any thing worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:6-8