Vengeance

Vengeance: punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.

⁶ O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷ Let them vanish like water that runs away;
    when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
⁸ Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
    like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
⁹ Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

Psalms 58:6-9 ESV

 

    As I am reading through the book of Psalms right now, one of the themes that I am picking up is this idea of vengeance.  Often it is King David praying to God to unleash His vengeance on either his or the nation of Israel’s enemies for doing them wrong.  Vengeance is not only a very strong word that provokes a lot of emotion, but often is a theme in books, movies and even songs.  Vengeance is one of the major themes found in the book The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  The theme of the book is where the lead character Edmond Dantes gets unjustly thrown a life sentence in prison.  During his sentence, Edmond becomes bitter and filled with vengeance to destroy the people who put him there.  After being thrown off a cliff and surviving, he develops a different persona and beginning to lie and use the people around him to get what he wants and that is vengeance. Here are a couple of ideas or assumptions that come along with this idea of vengeance.   

 

   My first idea of vengeance is that is the assumption that we are on the right side of history and on the right side of the issue.  There is no way we can be wrong on this issue because we have reason, facts, experience or some famous person backing our thoughts or ideology.  What becomes problematic is that no matter how wrong we are or how faulty our logic and reasoning are, we still think we are right.  When we get this way, we become hellbent on being right, especially when it is a hot button topic like the presidential election, immigration, gun control or any other issue that is big or small.  I think when one so hellbent, there is a good chance that

we can’t see the forest through the trees and all reasoning and logic, common sense and discernment can be thrown out the window.  Because we are more concerned making people pay than being holy.

 

   My second idea of vengeance is this assumption that we are not only on Gods side, but we also speak for God.  Through out the Bible, there are people who think that God is with them, but in all actuality, God is no where to be found.  King Saul was about to go into battle and he was afraid, so he prayed to God for comfort and direction, but God did not respond, even though God put Saul in that position.  Saul had abandoned Gods ways and in the time of need, God was no where to be found.  Saul disguised himself and consulted a sourer to bring back the Prophet Samuel back from the dead so could gain some sort of direction and comfort.  When Samuel came back, Saul was found out and he got an earful.  Vengeance often leads us down the road to thinking that God is on our side and He is giving us His blessing to perform our actions to either get justice or to make ourselves feel better and in all reality, God has no part in it. 

 

   My third observation is that vengeance is based more on feeling than on fact.  There are facts involved, but it is how those facts make us feel.  How often those facts we hold on too, are distorted, or incomplete or just down right false.  How often is our vengeance based on hurt, fear, or anger.  These are all valid emotions, but when they become the sole basis for action, truth becomes subjective and can be ever changing depending on who we are interacting with and the situation.  We do whatever makes us feel good and whatever feels like what the appropriate response is.  We have to take the advice of the 80’s band Boston and life has to be more than just a feeling because if was, we take the Kelly Clarkson approach and ruin a cheating ex boyfriends brand new four wheel drive. 

 

   My fourth and final observation about vengeance is that we base our lives on the creed eye for an eye.  The argument against this if we did this, the whole world would go blind.  The thing with vengeance is that it often continues to build, because the response to our vengeance is often vengeance, and then we have to respond with something greater and it just continues to escalate.  This often leads to generational hate, distrust and even alienation.  This often moves from person vs person vengeance to a group of people vs another group of people.  The extreme case is Archduke Franz Fernidinand of Austria being assassinated and different world powers supporting their allies and World War I breaking out, which lead to World War II. 

 

   To wrap things up, here is the problem when we become consumed with vengeance, it leaves no room for grace and forgiveness.  We either play the victim card and don’t take responsibility for our part, or we become jaded an hateful, and nothing we do satisfies us and we keep doing the next thing hoping we can find peace.  I am fully aware that there are and needs to be consequences for one’s actions and there need to be healthy boundaries in place and they can be difficult to put into place and keep, but there is another way.  Moses put it this way in Deuteronomy 32 that vengeance belongs to God and He alone will vindicate His people because God takes care of His own  His people are those who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. 

“Oh, God,” said Monte Cristo, “your vengeance may sometimes be slow in coming, but I think that then it is all the more complete.”

 

Questions To Ponder

    Is there a difference between our justice and Gods?

    What is the biggest struggle to waiting for God to provide justice?

    Does vengeance turn into hate?

    Do we ever think we are doing Gods business and He is with us, yet God is nowhere to be

       Found?