In all their suffering, He suffered, and the Angel of His Presence saved them because of His love and compassion; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of the past. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He became their enemy and fought against them. Isaiah 63:9-10 HCSB
We live in a troubled world and therefore, we suffer. We suffer loss, sadness, heartache and pain. Jesus tells us in John 16:33 that we will experience troubles in this world, but that we should be courageous because He has conquered the world. I don’t have children, but I have nieces and nephews that I love dearly and I don’t like to see anything or anyone cause them heartache or pain. It breaks my heart when I know that someone or some circumstance has hurt them. I hurt for any loved one when I see them doing something that will bring disaster upon them.
Because we live in a troubled world, we can be assured that we will get our feelings hurt. We will suffer betrayal. We will suffer rejection. We will suffer all kinds of emotional heartache during our lifespan. If you are reading this and thinking that this is only bringing you down, I ask you to think about how God must feel. How do you think He feels when in our anger or sorrow or pain, we betray Him? When our feelings are hurt, we are more apt to sin, right? We are more apt to get angry with God for allowing this to happen to us. How do you think this makes Him feel? Well, our scripture passage says that when we hurt, He hurts. When His child hurts, it breaks His heart. But imagine how upsetting it must be to see His child betray Him because of what someone else did to them?
If you set out to seek revenge, be very careful. When you seek revenge, you might just be hurting your relationship with God. God loves you and He wants you to obey His commands. Not because He is some heartless dictator, but because He loves you and knows that this is best for you. We are told in Romans 12:19 that we are not to repay evil for evil, but that we are to leave vengeance to God. God wants us to trust Him to do right by us. When we fail to do so, we become God’s enemy. When we do things as the world tells us we should do them and we act according to our flesh, we become God’s enemy. We are told in James 4:4 that friendship with the world is hostility toward God. You can’t have it both ways. You have to choose. Will you do it your way, or God’s way?
We are told in Isaiah 61:8 that Yahweh, the close personal name for God, loves justice. He certainly is not happy when His children are treated unjustly. And just as He told King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, the battle is the Lord’s. He will fight for you. Our scripture passage tells us that when we suffer, he suffers and He will lift us up and carry us. But, it also tells us that if we rebel against Him, His vengeance will be turned away from our enemy and onto us. You don’t want that to happen. In Isaiah 63:10, the verse ends by saying, “So He became their enemy and fought against them.” My friend God always wins. Being His enemy is not what you want to be. You will never win when you go against God.
If someone has hurt your feelings in any way, the best thing you can do is turn that over to God. Let it go and give it all to Him. Trust in Him to work it all out for you. He will do it in a way that is for your good and His glory (Romans 8:28-30). In Romans 8:31 we are told if God is for us, who can be against us? When you do things God’s way, He is for you.
Stay true to God and handle His business and He will stay true to you and handle yours. If you aren’t careful, you will find yourself on the wrong side of His anger and trust me, you don’t want that to happen. I am speaking from experience.
When we suffer, God suffers. He wants to lift us up and carry us. But if we rebel against Him and grieve His Spirit, He will become our enemy and He himself will fight against us. So, if you are plotting vengeance or carrying hurt feelings or anger, think carefully before you act or speak. The last thing you want to do is hurt God’s feelings.
Have a great day!