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.” 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.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21
Why would God reserve vengeance only for Himself? From where does vengeance spawn? What is the result of vengeance? Thinking about this topic another scripture came to my mind.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:7-9
Maybe we can’t know everything that was done — in the act of harming us. Are there ANY redeeming parts of that individual that can be saved? Somewhere in the future? How much does God love .. humanity? How much does He love you? Vengeance is greatly motivated and spawned by emotions, with anger festering deep within our souls. These emotions can be toxic for our soul and close us off from any good that is being sent our way. The dark emotions focus us only on them and usually keep us is a downward death spiral. What is it that makes Jesus able to say “Father forgive them for they know not what they do?” (Luke 23:34), all the while they were mercilessly crucifying Him? Love?
Usually we think of vengeance being big and terrible things plotted and done to others, but what about holding a grudge and festering anger towards another? Would that fall into this category? We can often purposely hold a grudge against someone who we think has wronged us somehow and we want them to ‘pay’ for their ‘evil’ towards us. Isn’t that a type of vengeance? We are enacting some kind of punishment like the silent treatment with them wouldn’t that be a type of vengeance? How exactly is vengeance measured? To what degree? The above scripture actually tells us to do the exact opposite of vengeance and do an 180 and actually do GOOD to those we want to enact vengeance upon. How is that even done? Only through the wisdom, counsel, and direction by the Holy Spirit. When He has taught us how to have our own will (by His direction) give the ‘orders’ to our soul and body to carry out this very different mode of responses in spite of everything we are feeling and experiencing. Paul and Silas were wrongly whipped and jailed, yet were able to praise, sing, and worship God during all of that terrible treatment. And what was the result? The jailer and his entire family learned of and accepted Jesus. (Acts 16)
Has the Holy Spirit been giving lessons on how to strengthen your will, where you KNOW the Truth and Word and are determined to carry out His instructions even though your emotions, physical hurt, and pain are currently demanding vengeance? Can YOU decide not to do what your emotions are telling you to do? Or do you allow your emotions to rule your daily life? Do you even ask the Holy Spirit why your emotions are in such turmoil? Can you even receive His instructions and hear His Voice when your emotions are roiling inside of you in the moment? This takes the fruit of the Spirit of self control helping you make the right choices in the moment that is screaming for retribution against others who are currently harming you. Do you have that type of relationship with the Holy Spirit? This kind of control and discipline will take time and testing. We will have to constantly be asking the Holy Spirit for instruction and direction through our daily lives – to be able to go in His direction instead of our own. We will have to learn and KNOW God is just and will judge everyone rightly — and that we can trust Him with that power that we want so badly for ourselves.
Can we really rely and trust Him in EVERY circumstance? Can we really hear Him in those times?