Help me, Lord my God;  save me according to your faithful love so they may know that this is your hand and that you, Lord, have done it.  Though they curse, You will bless.  When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.  My accusers will be clothed with disgrace;  they will wear their shame like a cloak.  I will fervently thank the Lord with my mouth;  I will praise Him in the presence of many.  For He stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who would condemn him.  Psalm 109:26-31 HCSB

When someone wrongs us, we want to show them that we are not going to take it, right?  We want to show them that we are better than they are at this game of hurting others.  We want to show them how tough we are and that they have messed with the wrong person, right?  We want people around us to say, “wow, they really showed them who was boss”.  We want the glory.  Why? Because it’s human nature.  We want to avenge ourselves of any wrong.  We want to be victorious.  Now, unfortunately, this human nature goes against what God wants us to do.  I know, once again, we see that God wants us to do the opposite of what we want to do.  I’m not sure why He made us this way, but He did.  Perhaps because the reward is so great that He wants us to work really hard at earning it.  You know what they say, “nothing worth having comes easily”.  But either way, we need to do it God’s way.  We need to be sure that God gets the glory.  God wants to work all things out for our good (Romans 8:28) and for His glory (Romans 8:30).

Now what we should want is for people who mess with us to know that when they mess with us they are messing with a child of God and that God doesn’t like that.  We want them to know that our father is the King of Kings.  We want them to know that God doesn’t like ugly and we want them to know that God protects His children.

Our scripture passage today comes from Psalm 109.  This Psalm was written by David and begins by asking God to take care of his enemies.  He prays that God will deal with them and goes on for many verses asking God to deal with them harshly.  I have learned in the last few years that when God deals with someone who has come against his child or children, it’s not pretty.  God can deal with someone much more harshly than you can.  So, while you may not want to stand behind God and say, “take that, you big meanie”, that’s the best position to  take.  In all honesty, when we focus on God and His love, we begin to have mercy on that person.  I have actually found myself praying to God and asking him to lighten up on my enemies.

The bottom line is this.  God wants everyone to come to Him.  Sometimes it takes turmoil and chaos for someone to do that .  When someone comes against you, don’t try to turn it back on them.  Turn it over to God.  Give it to His capable hands and allow Him to deal with it.  This frees you to focus on Him and also strengthens your witness.  When others around you see that you are not allowing the devil to distract you from doing God’s work, then they will know that you are a Christian.  When they see that instead of getting upset, you are letting God avenge you (Romans 12:19), they will take notice.  Most importantly when they see that you have a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) they will want what you have.  This is how we can lead people to the Lord.  Remember your actions speak much louder than your words.

Before you avenge yourself against your enemy, turn it over to God.  Do what God tells you to do and be sure that it is God telling you to do it.  The best way to know this, is if it goes against what you want to do.  If you want to go against this person and God tells you to be still (Psalm 46:10),  then be still and watch God work.  You will be amazed at what He will do.  You will also be pleasantly surprised when you realize that He will take the evil that someone had intended for you and work it for your good.  So, let Him handle it, I promise you, nobody does it better.

Have a great day!