There was a time early in my life when I believed I was treated very unjustly by my boss. I had not had a personal relationship with Jesus for very long at that point. I was trying to adjust to my new situation with Him and to practice responding to problems in a way that might be pleasing to Him. While I didn’t want full fledged vengeance, I felt that my boss should be held accountable for her actions and I poured my grievances out to the Lord. I wasn’t in a position where I could call this person to account on my own if I wanted to keep my job.
It wasn’t long before He directed me in my Bible reading to Romans 12, verse 19: “…it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
God Knows the Best Way to Carry Out Vengeance
I did not recall seeing this verse before, but I knew He was using it to speak to me. Then I gave some serious thought to what it meant. I took it to mean, “I am the One who decides when revenge is called for, and when it is, I will be the one to deal with it.” Then I realized that I needed to take my hands and thoughts off of this matter and pass it on to Him, whose judgment is perfect, and let Him handle it. So that is what I did. I continued to have some resentment, but took no further action or committed any form of vengeance on my own.
Time passed and I did not see where God was doing anything about my grievance. But I remembered the verse and continued to leave the situation alone. A year or two later, my boss had to leave the company and return to her home state hundreds of miles away. I never spoke to her about the situation, but I knew in my heart God had taken care of it. He does not take it lightly when someone unjustly accuses or uses one of His children. But I have also learned over time that He does not usually act at once.
He gives the offender time to address the situation in a way that He can permit, and if the offender does nothing, he or she will accumulate transgressions until the Lord is forced to deal with it. It is always His desire that people will do His will so He will not need to punish them.
We May Reach a Place Where We’re Unconcerned Over the Matter
As I now write this, I can no longer recall what the grievance was about anymore! God not only dealt with it, He also made me to forget it. I no longer have resentment or a desire for vengeance toward my former boss. I spoke to my girlfriend one day back then (who had also not know the Lord very long) about how God deals with people when they come against His children. She agreed and added, “And when He deals with them, it’s usually worse than what I would have done if I had handled it my way!” We laughed, but there is some truth to that.
I would have liked an apology and some consideration of my point of view from my boss. I would not have made her leave the company and move back home! But the Lord knew the whole situation and how best to handle it. Perhaps she had done the same to others. Perhaps there were many grievances besides mine. I did not need to know about these things. I only needed to turn it all over to the Lord and be about my own business.
Even though I don’t remember what I was upset about, I do remember that verse and it has come back to help me many times when I wanted vengeance or to take matters into my own hands.
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Romans 12:19
{Additional image credits: Opening images (clockwise): photo by Martine Savard from Pixabay, photo by arte_ram on Freeimages.com, photo by Ashish_Choudhary from Pixabay, photo by Alexander Dummer on Pexels]
