Vengeance Belongs to the Lord

November 17, 2024

Sunday

People have no idea how ungodly they can be. They do not believe in true justice because they try to exact their own type of justice when they believe they have been done wrong. It amounts to vengeance. It takes a life all its own. Their actions have ensured that there will be no justice. 

Years ago, I had someone do me very wrong. He told me that he would give me a raise after three months of working for him. When I went in after four months he threatened to fire me for asking for the raise. It was a time that I was really short of money. I knew I could hurt his business but the Lord intervened. The Lord told me to leave him alone.

A few months later, I quit to do what I believed the Lord wanted me to do. I thought little about what had happened to me after that. I learned about a year later that the business he worked in closed. It was one of the largest of its kind just months before but it now no longer existed. This man who had refused my raise was now out of work himself. That was much worse than I could have done to him. I realized the Lord will deal with those who give Him the opportunity to exact justice.

Vengeance protects the person with whom you have a problem. The Lord does not step between you and your own efforts to claim vengeance. Your own efforts are limited but God's actions are not. He can make things much worse for the sake of redeeming the person than you can in condemning the person. Thus, if you want real justice, leave them alone. Allow the Lord to take over.

We will never overcome evil by evil. That means that you don't fight fire with fire. You fight fire with water! You act in the place of Christ to sacrifice before those who would harm you. If discipline must be performed on someone outside of your authority, you must allow the Lord to administer that discipline. 

Thus, you will have no regrets for the things that you have done and have said. Few people understand this.

Romans 12:19-21 (ESV) ¹⁹  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰  To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.