I watched an episode in a very popular Christian Television Series in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, “Another Life”. In that episode, a lady had a beef with someone and told her friend (who was a Christian) about it.
She told her Christian friend she would revenge what the person did to her and the friend discouraged her from taking that path. The Christian friend told her, “Leave it to God: Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord!”
The aggrieved lady replied, “But why is Vengeance the Lord’s? WHY SHOULD HE HAVE ALL THE FUN?”
I watched that movie over 35 years ago, but that submission always plays out in my head: WHY SHOULD HE HAVE ALL THE FUN?
That tells you Vengeance IS Fun! Repaying people for the bad/wrong things they did to us could be FUN, really…
But that is when you look at it from the HUMAN angle. From the angle of SCRIPTURE, it is NOT fun- Vengeance IS indeed the Lord’s. It is not YOUR responsibility to pay back evil, no matter how you feel about it, no matter how deep the pain is.
Inasmuch as we are instructed through Scripture NOT to be vengeful, we must also be careful NOT to be victims of Vengeance. You must always have it at the back of your mind that not everybody will like you. Some people WILL hate you, not necessarily because you did anything to hurt them. Others will hate you because of what you did to them, others hate because of what your father or your tribesmen did to theirs decades ago.
About 30 years ago, a friend wanted to get married. He is from Oyo State, he wanted to marry a lady from Ogun State. Her parents refused to bless the union!
Why?
“In 1742, the Oyo Kingdom waged a war against the Egba Kingdom! Egba Women don’t marry Oyo Men!”
That war of almost 300 years ago had absolutely NOTHING to do with my friend, but he bore the brunt of it anyway.
You need WISDOM to navigate these mines, especially the ones you are aware of.
In the Book of 2nd Samuel Chapter 13, we read an interesting story. King David’s first son Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar. Her brother, Absalom got to know, he kept it in his heart. 2 years later, he revenged: he killed Amnon.
He planned it for 2 years! He decided to hold a feast and invited King David, his father. David didn’t want to go, so Absalom asked him to send Amnon instead. Now, David knew Amnon had raped Tamar. He knew Absalom was Tamar’s brother. Amnon also knew Absalom was the brother of the woman he raped. Didn’t they know Absalom would want to revenge the rape of his sister? You don’t need any special wisdom or insight to understand this!
In another story in the Book of Genesis chapter 27, Jacob stole the blessing of his brother, Esau, aided by their mother, Rebekah. After the event, Rebekah told Jacob, “Esau will want to revenge- RUN AWAY!”
Vengeance is a very strong emotion. Hurt and Pain can last for decades, even an entire lifetime.
Jacob ran away as his mother instructed him to. He met up with Esau over 20 years later- and he was afraid! He expected Esau to still carry that grudge against him after so many years!
But Esau had outgrown the hurt and pain, he even hugged Jacob! That was the exception, NOT the rule. People hardly let go of such deep, negative emotions.
We see it all around us in life- in Politics, Churches, Schools, Work Places, etc.
For example, Nigeria had a President between 1999-2007. He fell out with his Vice President during their tenure in Power. He later wrote a book on his 8-year Administration where he submitted that the WORST mistake he made in Office was picking the Vice President as his Running Mate. That Vice President has been running for the Office of the President since 2007, he has never succeeded- his boss has always stood against that ambition. 20 years later, he is still running for Office and his boss is still against him!
In the Book of 2nd Samuel Chapter 14, we read another story about Absalom: He needed the attention of Joab, the Commander of the Army of Israel.
He sent for him, Joab ignored his message. After several attempts, Absalom told his men, “Go and set his barley field on fire!” They did and Joab came to see him. Absalom got Joab’s attention by HURTING him.
Years later, Absalom had carried out a palace coup against King David his father, and there was a battle between Absalom’s men and David’s men. In that battle, David’s men killed 20,000 of Absalom’s men. It was a total annihilation! Absalom fled from the battlefield on his mule. As he went under a tree, his hair was entangled in the tree’s branches and the mule ran off under him, leaving him hanging by his hair on the tree. In that moment, he was HELPLESS! And guess who came along? Joab!
Joab must have smiled when he saw him hanging there helplessly, at his mercy. Same way Absalom must have smiled when he had Amnon at his mercy several years earlier.
Joab killed him.
Vengeance is a very strong emotion, folks: don’t EVER be a victim!
Like Jacob, RUN AWAY!
Don’t leave yourself at the mercy of anyone you have hurt or anyone you know that holds a grudge against you: not everyone follows the maxim “Vengeance is the Lord’s” -not even Christians!
Don’t be fooled with the notion, “I don’t have anything against him, why should he have anything against me?”
That is like saying “I don’t eat lions, why should lions want to eat me?”
BE GUIDED!
BE WISE!
Shalom,
Haruna Daniels