Vengeance!

One evening I was driving home and the traffic was pretty intense. The roads were slick because of the recent snowfall and driving was more dangerous. As I approached an intersection I noticed the cars in front of me were all backed up into the middle of it. As I looked ahead, I decided to stay by the green signal until the cars moved away. I did not want to take the chance of finding myself in the middle of the intersection when the light turned red for me and green for the other cars! However, as soon as I stopped, the car behind me beeped their horn. Maybe they didn't agree with my decision or didn't see what I was seeing. Either way, that little beep of the horn made me upset. Here I was trying to do the right and safe thing, and the car behind me had to complain about it. I wanted to get out of my car and give the person behind me a piece of my mind. I wanted to just give them a big frown! I wanted to show my disapproval for such a big injustice. I didn't, but I wanted to!

I was thinking about this incident and I see it now as a learning experience for me. Standing for what is right will not always be accepted by others, but I need to be firm whenever I get disapproval for doing the correct thing.  It's hard because I have a really hard time with injustice!

Here is what God taught me as I was reading the Bible this morning: vengeance is not mine! Jeremiah 51 gives a message from God to Babylon. You see, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon had taken God's people, the Israelites, captive. God used the Babylonians to bring punishment for the Israelites' unfaithfulness towards Him, but Babylon had gone too far, so God had a few words for them. God was going to avenge the Israelites and punish Babylon for mistreating His people. And He did!

As I read these words I realized that this is an unjust world. I'm probably not going to find approval for doing the right thing many times, especially when it bothers others or takes them out of their comfort zone. I may even suffer for doing what is right, but I need to remain firm and faithful. And instead of taking justice into my own hands by frowning or arguing my righteous point, I need to give the problem to God. And God will take care of it all for me, because God says "it is mine to avenge; I will repay." Romans 12:19

My part is to simply rest and trust in Him.

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. 

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, 

but overcome evil with good." 

Romans 12: 20, 21.