(Deuteronomy 32: 35, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30)
It might feel good to take personal vengeance in response to a perceived wrong against us, that is until ...those against whom we take vengeance, perceive our vengeance as a wrong against them, and they become determined to take their vengeance upon us! And the downward spiral continues!
The BIGGEST problem with vengeance is our personal perceptions of wrong actions taken against us, leave no room for an objective judgment. We personally become the victim, prosecutor, judge, jury and enforcer of our judgment against our perceived perpetuators!
My purpose is not to do a deep dive into vengeance and revenge, as I am not qualified. Rather, I seek to call attention to the need to create and respect a role for an objective mediating party in such matters. Since we humans are almost hopelessly biased, The Bible answers the question, ‘Who is capable to play such a role?’
It's answer is Jesus, The Lord God. He alone is qualified as objective and unbiased. He often exercises His role through people other than the people who were wronged! For civil judicial matters, He delegates decision-making through appointed officials and authority structures. Whether they know it or not, The Bible says all authorities derive from Him, and He will one day assess and award or judge their performance with His delegated authority! Caveat~ For personal (non-civil judicial) matters, He alone retains decision-making authority on when and how vengeance should be exercised… or not!
Hey, J!, Why 'or not?!’
Glad you asked! Human nature is helplessly evil. Throughout The Bible, The Lord promises to extend Grace to every person—time for us to repent when/as necessary for our sinful thoughts and actions. But we are lulled into ignoring Grace, and/or failing to recognize it has an expiration date when it is not met with repentance! When it expires, The Lord sends judgments of various kinds—ranging from intimate/personal ones, all the way to GLOBAL judgments on all generations! (Think the historical global flood, and the predicted apocalypse; and don't forget wars, famines, wild beast attacks and pestilence mentioned in Deuteronomy 32 and Ezekiel 14.)
When someone wrongs us, our revengeful human nature would NEVER for a moment stop to ask whether the wrongs might possibly be The Lord allowing us to be judged for a particular. sin, or stack of sins for which we never showed penitence! Ever considered that?
Bottom line: The sheer depth and breadth of our sinful human nature, demands the depth and breadth of an objective mind to adjudicate our perceptions of wrongs against us. When we seek and take personal vengeance, we effectively:
- INVITE The Lord’s strong rebukes or judgments against us for denying His agency in deciding and exercising vengeance!
- ESCALATE and DEEPEN rather than solving our problem.
- LOSE moral and judgment clarity!
- RISK collateral damage to innocents, especially if the cycle repeats and widens to longer-term issues involving other people and issues!
In contrast, when vengeance is surrendered to The Lord, the pattern usually shifts toward restoration, protection, or vindication instead of spiraling harm.
An unseen benefit of handling vengeance The Lord’s way, is the deepening of our trust in Him—His Love, Grace and Word for/to us. And since His offer of eternal salvation to us is effectively an Internship, I intuit we should EXPECT it will include opportunities to learn and practice His lesson on vengeance, That’s likely the best way to learn…
When we surrender the urge for vengeance to Him,
He preserves outcomes and develops our spiritual maturity.
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