Proverbs 20:20-23
The one who curses his father and his mother,
his lamp will be extinguished in the blackest darkness.
An inheritance gained easily in the beginning
will not be blessed in the end.
Do not say, “I will pay back evil!”
Wait for the Lord, so that he may vindicate you.
The Lord abhors differing weights,
and dishonest scales are wicked.
When you have been wronged, everything within you will want to seek revenge. If someone embarrasses you, everything within you wants to get the revenge that you deserve. And the greater the wound, the greater the desire to seek to bring about justice for yourself.
The thing is, God doesn’t want that for you. And you are going to have to learn to suppress the urge to bring about vengeance.
But why? Why can’t we get the revenge we so justly deserve? And the answer is, God is going to deal with it. And in some way or another, He always does. For sure, if it hasn’t been dealt with by the time the person dies, God will deal with it then. However, God does deal with things in this life.
How do I know? I have experienced this in my own life. I have been wronged by people. I have been treated poorly and lied about (and lied to). And I have to be honest with you, everything in me wanted to get revenge. Everything in me wanted to do things that that person’s car, house, Facebook profile and coffee. There were many other thoughts too, but I don’t want to alarm you.
But I didn’t do those things. I resisted the urge to do them. And you know what happened? Nothing for a while. But then I started hearing certain struggles this person was having, and I wondered if this might be what God is doing?
Let me say though, that I don’t think event his kind of thinking is in keeping with the spirit of this proverb. Sure, you can go there. Also, when I started thinking that way, you know what happened? I felt guilty for even having those thoughts. But, I think the work that God wants to really do is within us. I think what God really wants to do is change our hearts to the point that we don’t see the need to seek vengeance anymore.
So, don’t seek revenge. It doesn’t do you any good. And even when you see things happen in this person’s life that seem like God might be bringing the justice you deserve, stop and ask yourself, “why do I want this so bad?” Perhaps your heart still needs some work. Maybe what really needs to happen isn’t revenge in the life of the person who harmed you. Perhaps what really needs to happen is that God needs to work on your heart!
