Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free.
Proverbs 11:21
Have you ever been the victim of an injustice? For a very short time, while I was in college, I worked for a nonprofit called Victim Witness. They collected restitution for crime victims. Unfortunately, most criminals never paid restitution, even when a judge ordered them to pay it to their victims. We did our best to collect what we could for the victims, but in most cases, full restitution was never obtained. Justice did not prevail.
If you have ever been the victim of abuse, a crime, or a betrayal, you know how much it hurts to suffer at the hands of a wicked person. It is natural for most people to desire revenge, but as Children of God, the Bible asks us to ensure we never pay back wrong for wrong. Over and over all through the Bible, the Lord tells us, “It is mine to avenge.”
Sometimes, we face the challenge of God not avenging us when we want Him to or how we want Him to. Right before I forgive whoever has done me wrong, I am always tempted to pray that the fleas of a thousand camels land on the bed of whoever hurt me. Do you know what I’m talking about? Have you been tempted to do something similar?
I have seen many times how people who have hurt me or my loved ones go on living their lives in joy while I or the people I love suffer. Have you been there? Sometimes, it seems God forgets the iniquities we suffer, but my friends, He never does. Proverbs 11 tells us that the wicked will not go unpunished. It may seem to us that the sin committed against us will never be punished, but God does not lie.
I believe that sometimes, in His mercy, God is slow to punish those who hurt us to give us time to forgive them and our abusers time to repent. Nevertheless, whether God punishes the wicked on this side of heaven or chooses to do it on the other side, you can forgive whoever hurt you. Leave the avenging to God, for every wicked person will be punished sooner or later. Forgive and rest. There is no better Avenger than the Lord God Almighty.
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