2013-02-22
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week I was led to write about God’s deliverance of us when we are in need of it. One point made very clearly in RO 12: 19-21 is that we are not to take revenge against those who wrong us, because this is clearly God’s right to do. He will indeed do that, as I can witness to this from my own personal life. Israel wouldn’t exist today had it not been for God’s taking revenge against the Nazi’s responsible for the Holocaust. And we mustn’t forget the fate of Galarius, the Roman Emperor Domician’s evil assistant, who was responsible for the blood baths that went on from 303 AD-311 AD. They had already been slowed down in 311 AD due to people being tired of them, when Galarius took ill with a wasting disease described as being “eaten by worms” by others. He died that same year, despite his temerity in asking for the peoples’ prayers.
Let’s look at any relationship we see between RO 12: 19-21 and MT 5: 44-45a. RO 12: 19-21,“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is Mine to avenge; I will repay’, says the Lord. 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.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” You’ll see that (19) is a citation of LV 9: 18 and (20) cites PR 25: 22. That clearly connects the OT with the NT and is yet another example of God’s consistency. Now, look at MT 5: 44: -45a, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Both of these passages, whether read apart or together, call for a direct reversal of one’s response from what comes natural to us. First, we must have the self-control to hold off on avenging our enemies, allowing God to exact His wrath upon them. This should come from recognition that God’s power to do this and His wisdom in selecting a time and way is far beyond anything a human can have. We can recall JN 16: 33, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome this world.” That’s God’s power! God’s wisdom is far beyond that of any human. PR 2: 6, “For the Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.”
Moreover, MT 5: 44-45a is asking us to do something very hard for us, because our emotions are so engaged. Our emotions are why we have often responded inappropriately to the wrongdoing of our enemies. While I hate to sound like Mr. Spock on “Star Trek,” it is important that we find the self-control to engage our intelligence rather than our emotions at this time. We can appeal to God for His will and His wisdom in dealing with this knotty problem of responding to our enemies. We can begin by praying PS 25: 4-5, “Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God, my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.” He will tell us that it’s impossible to be showing others the love of the Lord Jesus while at the same time taking revenge on our enemies. We must understand that the entire Godhead-- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in-grafted in us—are our Refuge. We must, with humility, dignity, and patience, turn to the Lord when tempted to avenge the wrongdoing of our enemies. When we leave this over to God, we become victors over evil in the name of Christ. Our Strong Tower is then free to act in His own perfect time and way.
Let me give you an example from my own life. Because of the skill set that God has given me, I have always been surrounded by many people. Most are friends, but I’ve had some around me that weren’t. One such person did everything he could to humiliate me, cause me great financial difficulties, to be abusive, and to hurt people I love. The latter is a very effective method that the devil uses to get at us—he hurts people we love. This person had what to me is my most detested personality profile, i.e. evil duality, the personality who is kind and loving to your face, while at the same time capable of stabbing you in the back. This person gave me horrific trouble for many years, partly because it took me awhile to discover his duality and then to figure out what to do about it. And yes, there are some people so toxic that it’s necessary for you to exclude them from your life. If one chooses not to do this, the toxic person can bring you down or cause you to fall into sin. I’m a person who wants to think the best of people, but one learns over time that it’s necessary to be discriminating about whom one trusts. We can pray to God for wisdom and discernment, with PS 51: 6 and PS 119: 125, “Sincerity and truth are what You require; fill my mind with wisdom…I am Your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know Your teachings.” After years of being miserable whenever this person was doing his dirty work, I finally prayed to God for His help. I’m not proud of the fact that I didn’t turn to God first in this situation. Nevertheless, God heard my prayer, gave me a way to exit from this toxic person’s life, and has now avenged his wrongdoing by giving this man a terminal disease which will slowly lead him to his death. The Lord didn’t need any help from me! God has told me to pray for the salvation of his soul, so I do this, but from a distance. We must remember EPH 4: 26-27, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
PRAYER: O Lord, today’s lesson was hard. We must train ourselves to go against our natural selves and hold back our emotions when wronged by our enemies. I admit to having anger against such things as cancer, war-mongers, and injustice. But, Dear Lord, my emotions sometimes cause me to be angry at individuals too. What You ask us to do in MT 5: 23-24 and MT 5: 44-45a isn’t easy. You have adopted us into Your family [RO 8: 14-16], and You have given us faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ, Who died for us on the cross [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. We don’t deserve the goodness that You bring to our lives. And in return, through Christ’s blood, You have bought us out of the marketplace of slavery to sin. This leaves us with difficult choices to make in the face of Your right to have godly expectations for us. We pledge before You to step up to the plate when angry at our enemies by turning to You first and praying for Your advice. Then, we plan to obey it. You understand what it is like being in the face of temptation when wronged by our enemies. HE 4: 15, “For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” It stands to reason that anger can be both destructive and constructive. Our anger needs to fit into the latter category, and it will when we “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” You, Dearest Abba, will take care of the rest. We offer you praise and thanks in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ.
NEXT WEEK: We can learn a lot from David and Jonathan’s relationship as brothers in the covenant that applies to our modern day covenant relationships. Our Covenant Partner [Strong Tower] and human covenant partners must come first. Christ even made some very unexpected remarks about this in MT 10: 37-40, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My save will find it. He who receives You receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One Who sent Me.” Our loyalty to our covenant relationships may even cut through families, as it has with my own. And yet, our Strong Tower builds in us the desire for doing good through the Holy Spirit, even when it goes against our human nature. He makes the choices we have clear, and motivated us through the hope of the resurrection and our experiences on earth to live according to His commands. He makes it possible for us to understand the things of the Spirit, even though people without faith in His Son can’t [1 COR 2: 14]. The bottom line is made clear in EPH 2: 8-10, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Let’s raise our hands in thanks and praise to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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