A Dish Best Served Cold?

Revenge. Entire screenplays have been written with this one central idea as their focus. Someone is wronged, and then we spend a couple hours or more watching them “get even” with everyone. In life it’s very tempting to take revenge, it’s very tempting to get even, and maybe just a little more. All too often when we set out to get even we end up going just a couple steps further, and we restart the cycle with the other person. Entire families have been ripped apart because two people couldn’t let go of their vengeful attitudes and their desire to get even. Often we see that play out in the divorce papers as, “irreconcilable differences”. If only there was someone we could turn to, an impartial party, who could give out justice, someone who could make everything right again.

³⁵ ‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’   -Deuteronomy 32:35

¹⁹ Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.   -Romans 12:19

³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.   -Hebrews 10:30-31

Our world would be so much more peaceful if, instead of taking our own revenge, we waited for the judgment of God. God has promised to judge all people righteously on the last day, why not wait until He does? Wouldn’t life be so much less stressful if you weren’t always trying to plan how to get even with someone? Just let the Lord take care of it.

⁷ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  -Galatians 6:7

Paul understood this passage well, it seems, because even when much harm was done to him by Alexander the coppersmith, he only had this to say concerning vengeance or justice:

¹⁴ Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. ¹⁵ Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.   -2 Timothy 4:14–15

How powerful is this passage? Paul, through one sentence, teaches us a great deal about how we should deal with people who wrong us. After this man had harmed him a great deal, Paul simply states, “the Lord will repay him according to his deeds”. Think about that for a minute. Is it within the power of God to forgive Alexander the coppersmith? If he turns to Jesus, absolutely. Is Paul ok with that? Absolutely. He says, “the Lord will repay him according to his deeds”. Paul had ultimate trust in the Lord as the only Righteous Judge, and he trusted Him to show mercy where mercy is due, and to exact punishment where punishment is due. Let us also trust in the Lord this much, that whatever anyone does to us, it is for the Lord to punish or forgive, and we will continue in His will, and allow vengeance to belong to Him.