As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them! Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into the fire, into miry pits, no more to rise! Let not the slanderer be established in the land; let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!
(Verses 9-11)
If possible, as 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. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12 Italics, mine
Well, that's just hard! Really. It's much easier to think like David did in the Old Testament times. Kill 'em! After all, they have offended us, nearly ruined us...or ruined us..., gossiped incessantly about us, taken our husband or our wives, or murdered us, cheated on us, stolen from us! We deserve to be haters! And, actually, we probably do deserve revenge if those things have come our way. I don't know if I can say I've ever wanted burning coals to fall from heaven and burn up someone who treated me wrong. Didn't really want to see them smoldering in a smoky pit like a pig on the beach in Hawaii. But I have harbored resentment. That imprisons, too. Me and the offender. And the whole idea of God's vengeance being speedy is a thing I've never seen. I've definitely seen it be sure, though. In time. Not my time. His. But when the shoe is on the other foot and it is I who have gotten on the wrong side of God's rightness, I want Him to slow down the flying coals until I can repent.
More than once, recently, I have been deeply hurt by the actions of others. I think if I told you the stories from my viewpoint, you'd agree that what happened was at least unfair, if not disgusting. As one who is unafraid of confrontation, it has been my plot of late to say nothing. Commanded by my Father to keep my mouth closed. Hard enough when things are going well, but now...sheesh! I have lain awake at night discussing these things with the phantoms of my mind, setting the stage where I confront and talk. And it always comes back to: There's nothing you can say or do that will change an outcome that is already an outcome. Except to love the others involved.
So I'm in church a while back and praising God with all my heart. I can say unequivocally, praising God is one of the delights of my life! Hands raised, eyes closed, seeing in my spirit the very throne room where unapproachable light beckons me in. There, in His Presence, on that Sunday, my God asked me a question: "What would Hannah (not her name) think if she saw you right now, praising Me? Would she think you genuine?" Way to ruin the mood...I had to think about it for a few minutes, because I hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, I'd handled it all very well. But my heart wasn't right. Though outwardly I'd done just fine, and that's important to my Father, inwardly I knew Hannah and I weren't right. And it was obvious from how our incident had come down that Hannah wasn't really capable of making it right all by herself.
Of course, then there's the sermon by a visiting preacher who shows a comic strip character on the overhead. The character, a kid, is challenged by his big cat alter-ego to seek forgiveness from a neighbor kid he'd wronged. The kid sat in silence for a frame, a quizzical look on his face. The last frame shows a resolved child saying, "Nope! There's got to be another way." And that is what I knew Hannah thought. And God told me to make it right from my side. I, who had not made it wrong to begin with. But I kept seeing me before Him, hands up, heart open, and I didn't want anything in the world to get in the way of that flow. Offense isn't worth it. So I bought her a gift. Said let's just start over. And I wasn't trying to heap coals of fire upon her head. I just wanted to please my Father, Who, I think, is her Father, too. I leave the rest up to Him. With the other tests of my integrity, too. Some things, as my friend Marilyn says, are ONLY GOD things. What I can do to live in peace, I should do, even if it looks like I'm eating crow. God sees it in an entirely different light.
As for ISIS and the horrible evil of our day, there is a holocaust coming that will scorch the whole earth with holy fire. Unrequited, unavenged deaths through the ages will end in a fire that burns eternally for those who reject God. School shootings, serial murders, rape...on and on it goes and the end doesn't seem as speedy as we hope. Pastor Saeed Abedini languishes in a prison in Iran, jailed for helping orphaned children in that country. Beaten and abused, Abedini is in his third year of imprisonment. In a letter to his eight-year-old daughter, Rebekka Grace, Pastor Abedini summed up his suffering this way:
"Jesus allows me to be kept here for His glory. I know that you question why you have prayed so many times for my return and yet I am not home yet. Now there is a big WHY in your mind you are asking: WHY Jesus isn't answering your prayers and the prayers of all of the people around the world praying for my release and for me to be home with you and our family.The answer to the WHY is WHO. WHO is control? LORD JESUS CHRIST is in control."
Life isn't fair. In our desire to right the wrongs and injustices against us, we need to be very careful that we don't find ourselves on the wrong side of the will of God, Who, as Pastor Abedini says, knows everything, including how He will right all wrongs. The cross of Jesus is the most unfair and inhumane execution perhaps the world has ever seen. God Himself, The Word Who fashioned the very hands that nailed Him to the cross, allowed gross injustice in order to bring about a prodigious righteousness that saves those who believe from every miry pit, every smoky dungeon, every hellish death we all deserve! Nothing I face will ever by that unfair. I can trust a heart that big to avenge wrongs done against me, but more importantly, I can trust He will help me to be salt and light so that those who have hurt me see Him instead.
(Verses 9-11)
If possible, as 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. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12 Italics, mine
Well, that's just hard! Really. It's much easier to think like David did in the Old Testament times. Kill 'em! After all, they have offended us, nearly ruined us...or ruined us..., gossiped incessantly about us, taken our husband or our wives, or murdered us, cheated on us, stolen from us! We deserve to be haters! And, actually, we probably do deserve revenge if those things have come our way. I don't know if I can say I've ever wanted burning coals to fall from heaven and burn up someone who treated me wrong. Didn't really want to see them smoldering in a smoky pit like a pig on the beach in Hawaii. But I have harbored resentment. That imprisons, too. Me and the offender. And the whole idea of God's vengeance being speedy is a thing I've never seen. I've definitely seen it be sure, though. In time. Not my time. His. But when the shoe is on the other foot and it is I who have gotten on the wrong side of God's rightness, I want Him to slow down the flying coals until I can repent.
More than once, recently, I have been deeply hurt by the actions of others. I think if I told you the stories from my viewpoint, you'd agree that what happened was at least unfair, if not disgusting. As one who is unafraid of confrontation, it has been my plot of late to say nothing. Commanded by my Father to keep my mouth closed. Hard enough when things are going well, but now...sheesh! I have lain awake at night discussing these things with the phantoms of my mind, setting the stage where I confront and talk. And it always comes back to: There's nothing you can say or do that will change an outcome that is already an outcome. Except to love the others involved.
So I'm in church a while back and praising God with all my heart. I can say unequivocally, praising God is one of the delights of my life! Hands raised, eyes closed, seeing in my spirit the very throne room where unapproachable light beckons me in. There, in His Presence, on that Sunday, my God asked me a question: "What would Hannah (not her name) think if she saw you right now, praising Me? Would she think you genuine?" Way to ruin the mood...I had to think about it for a few minutes, because I hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, I'd handled it all very well. But my heart wasn't right. Though outwardly I'd done just fine, and that's important to my Father, inwardly I knew Hannah and I weren't right. And it was obvious from how our incident had come down that Hannah wasn't really capable of making it right all by herself.
Of course, then there's the sermon by a visiting preacher who shows a comic strip character on the overhead. The character, a kid, is challenged by his big cat alter-ego to seek forgiveness from a neighbor kid he'd wronged. The kid sat in silence for a frame, a quizzical look on his face. The last frame shows a resolved child saying, "Nope! There's got to be another way." And that is what I knew Hannah thought. And God told me to make it right from my side. I, who had not made it wrong to begin with. But I kept seeing me before Him, hands up, heart open, and I didn't want anything in the world to get in the way of that flow. Offense isn't worth it. So I bought her a gift. Said let's just start over. And I wasn't trying to heap coals of fire upon her head. I just wanted to please my Father, Who, I think, is her Father, too. I leave the rest up to Him. With the other tests of my integrity, too. Some things, as my friend Marilyn says, are ONLY GOD things. What I can do to live in peace, I should do, even if it looks like I'm eating crow. God sees it in an entirely different light.
As for ISIS and the horrible evil of our day, there is a holocaust coming that will scorch the whole earth with holy fire. Unrequited, unavenged deaths through the ages will end in a fire that burns eternally for those who reject God. School shootings, serial murders, rape...on and on it goes and the end doesn't seem as speedy as we hope. Pastor Saeed Abedini languishes in a prison in Iran, jailed for helping orphaned children in that country. Beaten and abused, Abedini is in his third year of imprisonment. In a letter to his eight-year-old daughter, Rebekka Grace, Pastor Abedini summed up his suffering this way:
"Jesus allows me to be kept here for His glory. I know that you question why you have prayed so many times for my return and yet I am not home yet. Now there is a big WHY in your mind you are asking: WHY Jesus isn't answering your prayers and the prayers of all of the people around the world praying for my release and for me to be home with you and our family.The answer to the WHY is WHO. WHO is control? LORD JESUS CHRIST is in control."
Life isn't fair. In our desire to right the wrongs and injustices against us, we need to be very careful that we don't find ourselves on the wrong side of the will of God, Who, as Pastor Abedini says, knows everything, including how He will right all wrongs. The cross of Jesus is the most unfair and inhumane execution perhaps the world has ever seen. God Himself, The Word Who fashioned the very hands that nailed Him to the cross, allowed gross injustice in order to bring about a prodigious righteousness that saves those who believe from every miry pit, every smoky dungeon, every hellish death we all deserve! Nothing I face will ever by that unfair. I can trust a heart that big to avenge wrongs done against me, but more importantly, I can trust He will help me to be salt and light so that those who have hurt me see Him instead.
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