Do you ever get really mad? This question, of course, is rhetorical, along the lines of “Do you ever breathe air?” or “Do you ever sleep?” If you’re like me, certain things in this life cause your emotional temperature to rise, even to boil over. And I don’t mean the silly things such as my dog not listening or my work commute taking too long or my kids leaving half a thimbleful of milk in the jug and putting back into the refrigerator. No, I mean the truly aggravating things where justifiable anger is, well, justifiable. What about the times when a broken person causes extreme pain to another human being? And what about the times when that other human being is my wife or child or someone close to me?
As usual with the things of God, the answer is simple but not easy. In Romans 12:17-21, we read some verses we discussed in Sunday School yesterday:
17 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge,my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Sometimes I want to take my own revenge. I don’t want God to take care of it, especially when my loved ones have been hurt deeply. And I certainly don’t want to feed my hungry enemies or give them something to drink when they’re thirsty. I want them to suffer the same way they made other people suffer. And yet I know there will be vengeance and justice; things will be made right sooner or later, it’s just not up to me. As John Piper writes, “Either your adversary will pay his debt in hell. Or he will repent, and trust Christ, so that his debt was paid on the cross. All wrongs will be punished. In God’s universe forgiveness does not mean that some crimes receive no punishment. It means that some crimes are punished in the suffering of a substitute.”