Rest or Revenge: Trusting God’s Promise of Justice

I know two things about all of you: you’ve been wronged by somebody--devastated, abused, rejected, lied about--and in many cases, you want revenge, which is completely natural but will eat you up inside and rob you of rest. God says in Romans 12 that vengeance belongs to Him alone, and He promises “I will repay.” This isn’t just a command, it’s a promise that God will deal with those who’ve hurt you far better than you ever could, whether through their repentance and reconciliation or through His perfect justice. The path to rest is to forgive them, bless them as Jesus commanded, pray for them even when it’s hard, and trust God’s promise. And what I’ve learned in my 72 years is that God is a master at keeping this promise, sometimes bringing people to tearful repentance, sometimes dealing with them in ways beyond anything I could have imagined, but always perfectly just.

“Forgiveness doesn’t make them right. It just makes us free. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that they’re right. Forgiveness doesn’t mean it’s okay. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that they don’t need to get paid. It just means I’m trusting God with it. He promised me.” —Jimmy Evans

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