Pray for your Enemies - Proverbs 25

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.
Proverbs 25:21-22

In the legislative arena, pro-life issues are one of those topics where it is difficult to know exactly who your friends and enemies might be. Depending upon the wording of your legislation, someone who agrees with you in principle may be as deadly to your legislation as some one who supports abortion at any stage of pregnancy.

It was the summer of 2003. During the legislative session the spring before, the legislator for whom I work, against all odds, passed the Woman’s Right to Know Act (WRTK) concerning informed consent for women about to undergo an abortion. The bill had not been designated as one of the bills to watch by pro-lifers, because it had been carried for at least three sessions in the past with no action.

But, WRTK had passed and we were left with the task of shepherding the implementation of the process through the Texas Department of Health. I say “we” but the truth of the matter is, immediately after the legislative session the representative I work for (who is also a colonel in the U.S. Marine Reserves) was called to active duty in Korea for several months. He assured me we would keep in touch by phone and email and all I had to do was attend the meetings, represent his position, monitor the situation and let him know what he needed to communicate to the stakeholders.

The way the Texas Department of Health implemented the bill was by getting all the people who were in favor of it and all the people who were opposed to it together to hash out the details of the wording of the brochure that would be printed to inform women of the risks of and alternatives to abortions. The majority of the people in the room would not agree with each other about the time of day, much less the wording on an abortion issue.

One day as I was lamenting to the Lord (as I am prone to do) about the mess He had gotten me into, He asked me if I loved my enemies.

“Love ’em? Are you kidding me, God? I don’t even like most of them.”

He asked me if I was praying for them.

“Lord, you know my idea of mercy is to ask you to smite them lightly. What would I pray for these people who I would really rather just see get out of my way so we can get this job done?”
I figured out that the Lord would not have asked me if I was praying if He did not intend for me to do so. And, while He left me to figure out what to pray on my own, I found that praying scripture over the people involved in a controversy never hurts. At the end of the process, not only did we end up with one of the most effective laws on informed consent in the nation, but I ended up with several friends in the Department of Health who continue to be available to discuss issues when the need arises.

I have been greatly rewarded.

Lord, help us to remember to pray for our enemies. Show us how to provide for their needs.