Payback

Perhaps you have, at some point in your life, really wanted to pay someone back for something they did to you that you felt you didn't deserve. I have.

Last week, my Sunday School class at church had a talk about revenge--and, since we knew what the topic was going to be a week ahead of time, I decided to do a little research. I visited BibleGateway.com and did a few searches on revenge and its synonyms to see what might be deduced from Scripture. You want a summary of the results? Well, "revenge" (in the context for which I was searching) came up 11 times; "avenge" appeared 46 times; "vengeance" came up in 25 different verses; and "repay" was found 29 times throughout the Bible. Totally, the topic seems to have appeared 91 times (but check my math).

I don't know how that compares to other topics. It's actually pretty irrelevant to my point.

Do you know what interested me most? The people in the Bible who exact revenge are not usually the most savory characters. Let's see, we have Samson (Judges 15:7), King Saul (1 Samuel 18:25), someone's enemy (Psalm 44:16), a jealous husband (Proverbs 6:34), and Philistia (long-time enemies of Israel--Ezekiel 25:15), among others (like "evil men" and "treacherous friends"). Now, remember with me that no one in the Bible is perfect except for Jesus Christ--but, really, is this a list of names that we'd like to join? Didn't think so.

Instead, God says several times that "It is mine to avenge; I will repay" (quoted in both Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30). It's just that, somehow, we don't feel that this is quite adequate. For one thing, as one of my Sunday School classmates mentioned, we like to see their punishment, just to know they're getting it. One of the best ways to see it, though is to give it, so we exact our revenge.

But, have you considered the implications of our attitudes, in this case? God has already claimed vengeance as His area of expertise; so, when we decide to take matters into our own hands, we are putting ourselves into God's place--making ourselves gods. Ouch.

And that's not all! God doesn't take it upon himself to avenge for that momentary fulfillment like we do--you know, that fleeting feeling of having given our enemies their just desserts. God is not like us, no matter how much we try to pretend that He is. God is just--completely. This means that he does not accidentally send the innocent to jail while letting the guilty go free. He knows everything--including the exact reward for every action. It's when we don't quite believe this truth that we decide to repay others according to what we think they deserve; in other words, we don't trust God to be what He says He is.

God has reserved vengeance for Himself because He alone is just and can repay according to deeds. He uses people and nations, sometimes, but when people or nations take vengeance into their own hands, it's as if they're taking God's place in His seat of judgment and don't trust that He is just.

So, next time, instead of trying to give someone else what you feel they deserve, follow God's example: "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10 NIV). Surprise them by turning the other cheek.