Don’t Take Revenge
“Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.” -Proverbs 20:22
That is to say, the Bible tells us not to say in our hearts: “someday I will get even…” And Scripture lays out that even when our cause is just: even when we truly have suffered “evil” against ourselves, we are not to take matters into our own hands or make any attempt to “repay” it. For even our Lord Jesus has said: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).
A remedy
Why are we not to seek revenge, even if our cause is just? Take a look at the second part of the verse at the top of the page: “but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.”
We are not to seek revenge because God is the one who weighs men’s actions, and gives to each as they deserve–in the process of due time. The Bible says that God truly does take revenge, but only from His just and all-knowing hands.
“To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.” -Deuteronomy 32:35
The heart of the matter
At the heart of the matter is faith. We must have faith that God truly sees our situation, and our difficulties. We must believe that He rewards good behavior, and punishes bad. His word has promised it.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” -Galatians 6:7
Just in the same way that Jesus has commanded us to invite the poor and lame and blind to our feasts–because they will not pay us back, but God will repay us–so too are we not to take revenge and get even when someone else does something hurtful to us: because God repays everyone in both the good and the bad. We must have faith, and live and act according to this faith.
“But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” -Luke 14:13-14
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