Have you ever been so angry with someone you sat there and plotted ways to pay them back? I have. I’ve plotted ways where I wouldn’t get caught, ways that would hurt them worse than they hurt me and ways that were they would know to never do something to me again. I used to say, “I don’t get even, I get ahead!” It’s crazy how clouded our mind gets when we’ve been hurt by someone. Reason goes out the window and we have a laser focus (tunnel vision) on hurting them back. We don’t care who gets caught in the wake as long as that person suffers.
I know I can’t be the only one who has ever felt this way. Maybe you’ve experienced it too. I know David did in I Samuel 25. He had protected a man’s property while running from Saul and living in the wilderness. He was hungry so he sent servants to ask for food as repayment. The man whose property he protected replied, “Do you think I’m going to take good bread and wine and meat freshly butchered for my sheep shearers and give it to men I’ve never laid eyes on?” David took that as a slap in the face for all he had done for him. Without hesitation, David said, “Get your swords!”
His first instinct was to repay this man evil for evil. Eye for an eye. Tit for tat. His anger blinded him. He got 400 of his strongest men and headed for that man. If he wasn’t going to give it freely, David was going to kill him and take it. We act the same way when we’re angry. Only around here, we don’t say, “Get your swords,” we say, “Grab your gun!” Violence seems to be our answer when someone has made us mad. We hit a wall, stomp our feet into the ground, punch something, scream out loud and display our displeasure any way we can. We want people to know we’re really mad.
That’s opposite of what God wants us to do. God says, in Deuteronomy 32:35, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will over take them.” The problem is we want them to have pay back now. We want to be the ones delivering it, but that’s not God’s way. That’s not God’s timing. In the New Testament, God reaffirms this message through Paul. Romans 12:17-18 says, “Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”
God doesn’t want us grabbing our swords (or guns) to pay back what someone did to us. He wants us to calm down, breathe and trust that He will handle it “in due time.” Proverbs 22:1 says that a good reputation is more important than riches. We lose our reputation when we go around paying people back. In turn, we tarnish God’s name. By the way, that man’s wife stopped David from killing her husband and everyone else. The next day, the man had a stroke and died. Instead of having murder on his hands, he maintained a pure heart before God. Instead of reaching for your sword next time someone hurts you, reach for patience instead. Let God have it.
Great words Chris. And much needed in these days of revenge and violence, in society and in homes. Thanks for the motivation to walk away and leave it to God.
Katie
Thank you! I used to watch “The First 48” all the time. I got so upset that so many people were throwing the rest of their life away because of vengeance. One moment of anger can lead to a lifetime of regrets.
I’ve so plotted revenge in my head. Not really gone through with it, but oh such plots! Great post.
I’ve not been a big revenge person, but I do have to stop myself from vengeful imaginations of all I wish I could do to them. I have sometimes had to snap myself back to reality! I’m learning to present every matter to the Lord and wish no evil on people.
I think we all deal with those thoughts. We have to be careful when we are tempted to act on them. What we dwell on grows and can become reality. In my life, I found that the ability to commit every sin is laying dormant in me. It only needs the right combination to be woken up. The first step in that combination is our thoughts and plotting.
Chris! Finally someone who get this point: the potential for every sin lies dormant within us…every one of them. This is why we get Gal. 6:1 and Jude 22-23.
I found out the hard way. I never thought I had the capacity for murder or anything that “major” until the conditions were right. Thanks for sharing the scripture references. Those are perfect.
Write. That.