Walking with the Wise #454: Let It Go

“Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause,
 

and do not deceive with your lips.
 

Do not say, ‘I will do to him as he has done to me;

I will pay the man back for what he has done.’”
—Proverbs 24:28-29

The life of Christ means letting go of grievances against us. It means speaking the truth in love, and seeking the best for your neighbor. If you find yourself wronged, don’t try and exact revenge; instead, remember the words of Romans 12:17-21,

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Our world wants revenge—books, TV shows, and novels glorify it. We are drawn to TV shows like Revenge, or Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, both of which chronicle long-term plans for revenge by persons who were wronged. While they are entertaining and appeal to our sense of justice, they beg our attention—should we avenge ourselves? We know what it's like to be wronged, to be hurt, shamed, and betrayed, but are we to avenge ourselves? No. For the Christian, it means understanding that all alike are sinners and all alike are deserving of punishment. It also means that we let God be our advocate, and that requires a large amount of faith. It is never easy giving someone over to the wrath of God. God doesn’t operate on our timetable and many of us lack patience. In our minds, if justice is delayed, then justice is denied, but that is quite myopic when considering the person of God. For Him, a thousand years is like a day (2 Peter 3:8) and He will bring justice at the proper time—with considerably more clarity, objectivity, impartiality, and exactness than we ever could. While we can be sure that God will not relent concerning His wrath, we must also remember that He doesn’t delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11), but desires repentance (2 Peter 3:9). This is where our flesh really begins to wreak havoc within us, just like it did with Jonah.

Jonah wanted God’s justice and vengeance on Nineveh for past evils done against his people. He didn’t want their repentance, which is why he got on a boat bound in the opposite direction. And even after he finally submitted to God’s assignment for him, he set up a tent outside the city of Nineveh, so that he could have a front row seat for God’s wrath. Though he preached God’s assigned message for them, he sincerely hoped that they would reject it, because he wanted God to exact His wrath in all of its fury. But God had a different plan. He not only desired the Ninevites to repent; He wanted Jonah to understand the importance of people, and the book of Jonah ends on a cliffhanger—will Jonah love people the way God does?

Our responsibility is to love God and people. And this means that whenever we are wronged or find ourselves victims, we must run to God in faith, making sure that we trust in Him for vengeance and to exact justice in His own way and time. This means giving over to God our present circumstances and pain, remembering that God took the wrath of God upon Himself in the person of His Son. We all alike have done evil, and some of us, who are looking for vengeance upon our enemies, have enemies trying to exact vengeance on us! Instead of seeking vengeance for ourselves, we surrender to God, hoping and praying for our enemies’ repentance, knowing full well of the sacrifice of our Savior, who took on the wrath we deserved, so that we might have true peace with God.

If we fail to understand the crucifixion, we will never be able to give over our thirst for vengeance to God—and thus never have peace. The crucifixion is not one small blip upon the timeline of history, but the single greatest act of injustice the world has ever known. It is the appropriation and dissemination of God’s wrath for every sin of all time, exacted on Christ in a moment. He took our death and made it is own, therefore substituting Himself for us, enabling us to pass through death into His life—which was secured through the resurrection. It was the crucifixion where God’s vengeance and wrath were displayed in the person of His Son. And for those of us who want God to exact vengeance, we must first understand how His vengeance and wrath toward us were borne by His Son in order to bring us to Himself. It is through the Son that we have life, and to reject Him means that the wrath of God remains on us. As Jesus said,

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him”—John 3:36.

May each one of us stand at the foot of the cross and see the crucified Savior. May each one of us see the vengeance and wrath of God executed in all of its awful fury! And may each one of us entrust ourselves to God by faith, asking Him for the repentance of our enemies, so that they may truly understand that what they deserved was taken upon the divine Son so that they might be saved. Amen.