Paybacks

Reading for Today: Proverb Chapter 20

Gold Nugget
Verse 22: Do not say, "I will recompense evil"; Wait for the Lord, and He will save you. 

One of our prior “gold nuggets” proclaimed the justice of the Lord through giving. It reminds us that when we give to the poor, consider it a loan unto the Lord, who always pays it back. Today’s “gold nugget” is kin to it, in that it guarantees the Lord’s ability to “pay it back”. It’s in our instinct to pay someone back. (Well, for those who borrow, maybe not always, but for those who are offended or hurt – almost instinctively.) Our natural reaction when we’ve been hurt is to retaliate. It actually takes being re-trained, in order to avoid wanting to pay someone back. One verse that has been very difficult for Christians to accept is, “…vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). We want to get even with those who have hurt us. We consider it justice. We figure it is our right as humans. Expecting anything different goes against our nature. When the scriptures teach us to be different to our nature, it requires extra strength from God. Through commitment and allowing His Spirit to change us, we can eventually come to a very important place spiritually, that will make this process easier. It’s simple – “Trust God.” Trust that if anyone attacks us, they have Him to deal with. He can handle things a lot better than us anyway. Consider the wife of a championship boxer that is being cursed out by a strange man. She could be enraged and attempt to retaliate, but wouldn’t she be just as content knowing that her husband is present, and the strange man has worse to deal with than her wrath. Although she shouldn’t take pleasure in watching the man suffer a beating, there isn’t a real need for her to take matters into her own hands. Consider God as your championship boxer. It’s not that you want to see people suffer His vengeance, but you can rest assured that they have worse to deal with than your wrath. The difficult part comes from not being able to see His vengeance. That comes with trusting Him and letting it go. The scriptures go on to say, “17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.” (Proverbs 24:17-18). We must not take pleasure in sin or witnessing people suffering from their sin. It should bring compassion to our heart. If not, God will turn His wrath from them because of you. We can live a more peaceable life not having to worry about paying people back.


Prayer
Lord, help me to be more spiritually minded than feel a need to retaliate at every offense. You provide every need that I have, even justice. I will not be vengeful but will trust you to defend me when I need it. Amen


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