I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them. Ezekiel 26:17
When a person is harmed by another person, most people desire to get vengeance. Some will seek to gain that vengeance on their own. Sometimes they will do it with just words, while others will do it with physical harm. Seeking self vengeance is something that many in the world see as a right to do. They want to make the other person pay for their wrongs done.
Ezekiel quotes God saying that He will execute a great vengeance upon the people of Philistia for how they treated the Israelites. He says they shall know that He is Lord when He strikes them with vengeance.
It is easy to strike a person back with vengeance when one is hurt. The level of being hurt does not matter, it is just that one was hurt and the other must pay for it in some way. The world sees it as eye for eye and tooth for tooth, if not arm and leg for the tooth.
Actions like this can often be seen in the church among believers. Even in the church, people can be hurt by others and often it can be very painful hurts, so then some will seek out vengeance.
Although the world says it is a right to strike back, believers are not to be the ones to strike back in vengeance. Instead of striking back in vengeance, believers are to trust God to do the striking. His manner of striking will be greater and stronger than anything a person can ever do.
As God strikes, His purpose is to get those He strikes to realize that He is God and Lord of all. It is He who is in control and must be obeyed.
You have been or will be hurt by someone in your life. Your anger at being hurt and the desire to get vengeance may rise up. Do not be like the world and get selfish vengeance, but let it go and allow God to get vengeance for you. It is not about you, but all about God. He is watching and knows what is happening to you. At the right time and in the right way God will strike if there is no repentance on the perpetrator.
Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will allow God to get vengeance for wrongs done against you; that you will trust God’s timing and way; and that God will help you not be one who does wrong to others.
Photo by David Moum on Unsplash
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