What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree! (Verses 3-4)
Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
Romans 12
It feels like a slap in the face when we find out someone has deceived us. Purposely lied to us. It's humiliating and patronizing. The liar duped us into believing him or her, making us vulnerable because we were taken in by the ruse. Since we're human, we get fighting mad. In 2008, Bernie Madoff was arrested for perpetrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He'd been siphoning the life savings of his clients for years and pretending to invest when he was simply moving money around and paying some clients while stalling others. At the time of his arrest, he was a billionaire with 4800 clients defrauded of 64.8 billion dollars. Elie Wiesel, the holocaust survivor and writer, had invested 15.2 million dollars through the foundation for life he'd founded. He and his wife, Marion, lost their life savings. As did hundreds of others who trusted Madoff while he lived high on their money. Madoff is safely in jail. But his son committed suicide in the aftermath. And hundreds of people now grapple with life in their retirement years after having lost their savings. A big liar. Hating those he duped. Enriching himself at their literal expense. It doesn't seem fair that God asks us not to repay evil with evil. But what, really, could we do? Kill him? I know some want to. Dip sharp arrows into the hot burning coals of a fire built from the broom tree? Yep. That might feel good in the moment. Make him pay! But our cheap vengeance lowers us to the liar's level...and, it can't be enough. Better to let our God handle it. If we don't, the outcome is bitterness, and we all know where that leads.
Repaying evil for evil makes us just like the world. Stirs up the same junk in us that used to drive us before we knew Jesus. Jesus showed us that mercy triumphs over judgment. Not so much mercy for the deceiver whose god is the father of lies. The lies that were told about Jesus at His trial were blatant and blasphemous. The Jewish leaders even found people to lie in their nighttime court! Trumped up charges that put Jesus on the cross from which He prayed, "Father, forgive them. They don't have any idea what they are doing." God's way of handling that was a risen Jesus by Sunday morning, walking with His own power out of death into eternal life and taking us all with Him. Jesus admitted He could have called all the angels out of heaven to fight for Him when the guards arrested Him in the garden of Gethsemane. But He saw something in the future--us, the joy before Him--and bore the lies He could have exposed. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us who know Him. The same God Who defeated Satan at the cross of Christ knows how to defeat our physical enemies here. Better than we do. If everything works together for the good of those who are His (Romans 8), then even the perverse deceit of our enemies can be turned around for our good in our lives. But if we take matters into our own hands, exact a flimsy revenge, we get in God's way, take over what is His. Make things worse. Become like what we hate.
I know it doesn't seem fair. Watching the broom tree singed arrows zing into the backside of the liar who has ruined our lives would indeed feel good for the moment, but the problem he or she created will still be with us to work out. The deceiver will run on down the road, grabbing his wounded butt and screaming, "Unfair!" And we want him to get as far away from us as possible! The reality is, though, that we must work out of the tangled web of our existence in the aftermath. We need faith to trust God to take care of us even when things are unfair. To trust that all of life's unexpected catastrophes are as safe with Him as are our victories. Evil lurks out there. Deceit is politically correct and morally vague. We can only expect honesty from ourselves. Demand it of our hearts. Intentionally live wrapped in it. Our Father will take care of the rest.
Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
Romans 12
It feels like a slap in the face when we find out someone has deceived us. Purposely lied to us. It's humiliating and patronizing. The liar duped us into believing him or her, making us vulnerable because we were taken in by the ruse. Since we're human, we get fighting mad. In 2008, Bernie Madoff was arrested for perpetrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He'd been siphoning the life savings of his clients for years and pretending to invest when he was simply moving money around and paying some clients while stalling others. At the time of his arrest, he was a billionaire with 4800 clients defrauded of 64.8 billion dollars. Elie Wiesel, the holocaust survivor and writer, had invested 15.2 million dollars through the foundation for life he'd founded. He and his wife, Marion, lost their life savings. As did hundreds of others who trusted Madoff while he lived high on their money. Madoff is safely in jail. But his son committed suicide in the aftermath. And hundreds of people now grapple with life in their retirement years after having lost their savings. A big liar. Hating those he duped. Enriching himself at their literal expense. It doesn't seem fair that God asks us not to repay evil with evil. But what, really, could we do? Kill him? I know some want to. Dip sharp arrows into the hot burning coals of a fire built from the broom tree? Yep. That might feel good in the moment. Make him pay! But our cheap vengeance lowers us to the liar's level...and, it can't be enough. Better to let our God handle it. If we don't, the outcome is bitterness, and we all know where that leads.
Repaying evil for evil makes us just like the world. Stirs up the same junk in us that used to drive us before we knew Jesus. Jesus showed us that mercy triumphs over judgment. Not so much mercy for the deceiver whose god is the father of lies. The lies that were told about Jesus at His trial were blatant and blasphemous. The Jewish leaders even found people to lie in their nighttime court! Trumped up charges that put Jesus on the cross from which He prayed, "Father, forgive them. They don't have any idea what they are doing." God's way of handling that was a risen Jesus by Sunday morning, walking with His own power out of death into eternal life and taking us all with Him. Jesus admitted He could have called all the angels out of heaven to fight for Him when the guards arrested Him in the garden of Gethsemane. But He saw something in the future--us, the joy before Him--and bore the lies He could have exposed. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us who know Him. The same God Who defeated Satan at the cross of Christ knows how to defeat our physical enemies here. Better than we do. If everything works together for the good of those who are His (Romans 8), then even the perverse deceit of our enemies can be turned around for our good in our lives. But if we take matters into our own hands, exact a flimsy revenge, we get in God's way, take over what is His. Make things worse. Become like what we hate.
I know it doesn't seem fair. Watching the broom tree singed arrows zing into the backside of the liar who has ruined our lives would indeed feel good for the moment, but the problem he or she created will still be with us to work out. The deceiver will run on down the road, grabbing his wounded butt and screaming, "Unfair!" And we want him to get as far away from us as possible! The reality is, though, that we must work out of the tangled web of our existence in the aftermath. We need faith to trust God to take care of us even when things are unfair. To trust that all of life's unexpected catastrophes are as safe with Him as are our victories. Evil lurks out there. Deceit is politically correct and morally vague. We can only expect honesty from ourselves. Demand it of our hearts. Intentionally live wrapped in it. Our Father will take care of the rest.
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