Give It To God

“Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21).

When people live by the adage, “An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth” all we end up with are a lot of toothless, blind people. Instead, we are called to live by the words found in Proverbs 20:22, “Do not say, ‘I’ll pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.”

Because the Lord is my Shepherd, because He is my strong tower and refuge, He asks me to leave retribution and vengeance in His hands if I am ever wronged or harmed by another. As His child, He puts His hand on my shoulder, places Himself between the perpetrator and myself, saying, “I’ve got this!”

Over the years I have discovered that if I am ever truly wronged by another and if I lay that wrong on God’s doorstep, He is always faithful to avenge the wrong that was done to His child, in that instance, me.

However, more times than not, when I am wounded by something that another has said or done, it’s not that I have been truly wounded but my feelings have been hurt. And in that moment, if I do not place it before God, my greatest temptation is to extract vengeance myself, wanting to collect my own pound of flesh from the one who has offended me. That is why such things need to be laid at the feet of the Lord before we strike out on our own.

Even though I know that God says that vengeance is His, I often grow impatient because His timing is never the same as mine. I want my pound of flesh now! And in the heat of the moment, I take action myself. When I have done this, I soon sense that God has stepped back, brushed off His hands and said, “Have at it.” Then, it is only a matter of time before the matter grows increasingly worse. It is then, that I come crawling back to God, seeking His forgiveness and repenting for having taken the matter out of His hands so that I could handle it myself.

On the other hand, there have been times that I have been deeply wounded by the vindictive words or actions of another. When I have taken that to God and trusted all “pay backs” to Him, I have found peace and also discovered that when God takes vengeance on my behalf, He is much more thorough that I ever would have been.

And back to the issue of timing, it seems that God never rushes in too soon. In some cases, His retribution on my behalf has happened years later. I have learned to trust Him and His timing. He also, in that interim, exhorts me to pray for the one who wounded me. And when I do that, I feel my anger cool and my hurt begin to heal, even though they have never come and asked for my forgiveness.

Here's the bottom line, will you trust God with your wounds? You are His child, He loves you with an undying love and if someone vindictively attacks you, your Father in heaven, can and will handle it. But remember, He will probably back away from the situation if you feel the need to settle accounts yourself.