God’s Gentle Reminder

Do not try to punish others when they wrong you, but wait for God to punish them with His anger.

Romans 12:19

Do not repay
evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay
evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

1 Peter 3:8-10

 

This morning as I was driving home from taking the kids to school, my mind was racing. In my mind, I was devising a way to take revenge on those that have hurt me over the past couple of years. I was working it all out, mapping out the words I would say, the actionsI would take and how I would justify every part of it and then I got home and opened my bible. As I began my quiet time, I turned to 1 Peter because over the past two weeks, our pastor has been preaching from this book. As I was flipping through the pages, I came across 1 Peter 3:8-10 and immediately, God got a hold of my heart. He is pretty amazing that way. Funny how Satan will get in our heads and try to lead us down an un-Christ like way if we are not careful. What if I had chosen to come home and take a nap or type a nasty email instead of opening my Bible? This is why quiet time with the Lord is so important. He guides our steps and takes us down the path that leads to a righteous way of handling things. This is the lesson I have been learning over the past couple of weeks. It is not always easy, especially when we are being hurt but I have had to learn to trust God and His promises to me. When someone has wronged me, my job is to return their evil with kindness and love and this is something that can only be done with the help of God.

If you stop and think about it, you can probably think of someone you have heard spouting off about someone they are angry with and in that moment you have probably thought, I hope never to get on his bad side. It is best to avoid those cantankerous sorts. Best to just stay away and avoid being put in that situation yourself. Those who try to take revenge end up lonely and unhealthy and find themselves sad, unsettled and alone. Why? Because when we are angry, we distance ourselves from God. When we try to take control from Him and do things our way, we compromise our relationship with Him.

If you find that your mission in life is to settle the score with someone that you feel has wronged you, I can promise you, there will be no peace. First, you may never get your revenge and as much as you think you are owed an apology, chances are, you will never get it. On top of that, the justice you think is deserved will never be enough. It is just the way we are wired. The only peace that we will ever find when we have been wronged is the peace that can only come from God and allowing Him the control of our circumstances. It is a hard lesson but a beneficial one to learn.

Watching the consequences of someone trying to execute revenge has been enough for me to be still, keep quiet and allow God to punish them with His anger. This is the command of our amazing heavenly Father and so far, it has worked for me.