In the midst of the apostle Paul’s writing on the maturation of Christians he points out that vengeance belongs to God. The creator of the universe claimed this prize for himself.
Vengeance is something that has to be done in love and given our very nature in the flesh it is something we would always struggle with. We have a difficult time seeing the “big picture” when someone has harmed us.
One of the wonderful things about our God is that he can be consistent in the most difficult of times. God, who knows all, is never caught off guard with our actions. His goal is to always teach us through our living and always give us outcomes to make us stronger and not destroy us.
David understood this about God. In one story, David had sinned and God gave him a choice for his kingdom to suffer a famine, for David to be turned over to his enemies or for God himself to punish David. The king of Israel’s response was interesting. He said that he would prefer God punish him because he did not want his fate to be left in the hands of man.
Our flesh burns with our anger. We were told in scripture to be angry but without sin — meaning anger and evil are among the deadliest of combos. In America alone we have an obsession with sentencing people. Knowing the mortality rate of an American, our courts won’t hesitate to give someone 100 years. Why? Because were are outraged and we need that feeling to be satisfied.
Someone murders our son, he must die too. Someone rapes our daughter he needs to be placed in the deepest part of the prison and then raped.
Crimes are already bad and it seems that many of us believe that the only thing worse than a crime is a crime done to me. Where does this selfish entitlement come from? Well, the answer to that question is the reason God spared us of vengeance and why it can’t be ours.
ClydeStyle 