“And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early, and set upon the city: and, behold, when he and the people that is with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.”
The fact that you have an opportunity to do something doesn’t mean
that you should engage or act upon the occasion. Throughout the Scriptures, many have used an occasion as their opportunity to do wrong only to find that, in the end, they should have never acted on the occasion. It was Judas Iscariot who found an occasion to betray Jesus, but that didn’t make that opportunity the right thing to do. It was Joseph’s brethren who found an occasion to finally silence the brother they hated, but taking the occasion against him turned out to haunt them their entire lives. Most of the time when people act upon an occasion, they find themselves doing something that is wrong.
In the verse above, Abimelech was told that he should do to this city that he was fighting against “as thou shalt find occasion.” Abimelech did not want to do good to others; rather, he was trying to destroy an innocent people because they didn’t get behind him when he slew his seventy brothers. Abimelech was taking an occasion to hurt people because he felt that it was the best way to do something without him looking bad to the rest of the country.
Many relationships have been destroyed because of people taking an occasion to respond back or to retaliate towards an individual who has done something against them. Just because you have the “goods” on someone doesn’t mean you should use those “goods” to destroy them when you have an opportunity to do so. Just because you have the “perfect” time to say something hurtful towards someone doesn’t make it right for you to say it. My friend, it takes more character not to use an opportunity to hurt others when you have the occasion to do so than it does to say or do something to someone and feel like you were justified in doing so. Let me remind you that Jesus had many opportunities to hurt those who slandered, attacked, and even crucified Him, but He knew it was better to do the will of the Father than it was to get “sweet revenge.” Taking the opportunity to get “sweet revenge” towards someone normally turns into a bitter meal to swallow that you’ll regret forever. You had better be careful about using an occasion to hurt others just because you have the opportunity to do it.
Moreover, just because you have an occasion to do something doesn’t make it God’s will. Many have taken occasions to get a “better” job only to regret that later in life because the job took them out of church. Many have gone into sin because they had the occasion to do it, but that occasion turned into a lifetime nightmare that destroyed their conscience and fellowship with the LORD. Just because the occasion to do wrong presents itself doesn’t make it the right thing to do. Joseph was presented with an occasion to do wrong, but he avoided it, and God rewarded him for doing so.
My friend, the next time you are presented with an occasion to do something, ask yourself if this is something the LORD would want you to do. Instead of taking the occasion because you have the opportunity to do something, you should ask yourself if the occasion fits into God’s will for your life. You will never regret rejecting an occasion for God’s will.
