LEAVE IT FOR THE LORD

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and He will avenge you.

Proverbs 20:22            

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What do you do when someone does wrong to you?

It’s something that inevitably happens in life and so it’s a very valid question.

The world would offer you any of the following bits of advice:

“Do unto others as they have done unto you.”

This is the old eye-for-an eye theory, ensuring that the one who has violated you in some way knows exactly what you went through by having the live through the same experience.

“Don’t get mad, just get even.”

This nugget of worldly wisdom would encourage you to channel any negative emotions you feel into revenge against the one who mistreated you.

“Never go to bed angry. Stay up and plot your revenge.”

We might laugh at this saying but it’s truer than we want to admit. People who can’t let go of being wronged will often never rest until they have exacted vengeance on the one who victimized them.

Now, as we should know by now, the word of God does not agree with the world’s ways, that is unless the world’s way is a result of God’s guidance and influence. The sayings above definitely do not reflect that as we find the words in just one proverb contradicting and cancelling out the world’s way of thinking.

Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and He will avenge you. Proverbs 20:22

There’s no gray area in this scripture. We are to not to exact justice on our own behalf. Judgment is not to be something we decide to initiate. That is reserved for God, the only One worthy and qualified to judge perfectly. The Lord and the Lord alone is perfectly just and thus His verdicts will always be perfect. We have no right to intervene or interfere in His work.

This is why Solomon’s words are clear. We are not to pay back wrong but rather leave it for the Lord to handle, trusting that He has a plan to deal with the offender. We are to wait for the Lord and allow Him to do His work.

So you might ask me, “So Mark, we’re not to do anything?”

My answer is that you are to do something but none of it comes in the way of revenge or exacting justice. No, the things we are to do are to be done out of love for those who have done anything but loved us. For we need to first forgive the one who has done us wrong and then commit ourselves to pray for them.

Jesus told us that we are to forgive. In fact, we are warned in the scriptures that we will not be forgiven if we choose to not forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15) We are to forgive as we have been forgiven and in our innate sinfulness, we have been shown mercy and grace over and over and over again. The Lord is slow to anger and rich in love. When we allow Him to guide us through life’s circumstances, we will model His behavior.

When we love and forgive others, we find our hearts softened with caring and compassion replacing anger and resentment. This leads us to pray for those who have done us wrong, asking for God’s grace and mercy to be upon them and for them to turn from their wicked ways.

Friends, the way we react and respond to the things people do to us can make all the difference in the outcome for the perpetrator. For adopting the world’s revenge motif only harms everyone involved. It’s a no win scenario. Conversely, when we leave it up to the Lord and partner with Him in resolution, Him rendering judgment while we render forgiveness and prayer, we can be assured that the end result is the one the Lord expects and desires, and hopefully that means bringing the offender into a relationship with the Lord and into the fellowship of believers.

As we approach the holidays, I encourage you to resolve any hard feelings you have in your heart against another and choose to simply forgive and pray for them. Let go of your pain and anger and sorrow and anguish, replacing them with peace and love and compassion and tolerance and patience, and let the Lord have the matter at hand, trusting that He always has a way to work things out to meet His will.

Blessings to you always.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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