Vengence

August 6, 2007

Rom 12:19 KJV
(19) Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.


My daughter loves when I tell her the story of how this verse really came true in my life. I was working at a computer lab at a local community college. A student called me over to give her help. She was trying to open a BASIC program in a word processing program and was not sure why she could not get it to run. I knew that she had not been to class because of what she was doing and I noticed the program did not have her name in the comments area. I tried to ask her what she had typed the program in, and at that point she knew she was caught. She let out some strong language at me. "Look you $%#^%##. I do not need to take your $%^#%^$! I am going to a real school next year!"

I took a deep breath and God brought this verse to mind. OK God, vengeance is yours. You handle it. I assisted her to open it up in QBASIC and run the program. She walked out all smiles, thinking she had won.

A few hours later, Campus Police were up in the hall escorting this your woman out of a classroom. Seems she had tried the same garbage with her instructor. Obviously the instructor did not think about this scripture.

I often remember that incident when I am tempted to try to punish someone for what they have done to me. God does not want me to take vengeance in my own hands. Why? I do not know. Like I tell my kids, if I had God's power, some people I know would wind up as burnt toast. Maybe that is why God wants me not to take my own vengeance and leave it up to Him. He is so much more compassionate than I am.

Just a though...