Romans 12:19-20 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But
if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a
drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Message: Vengeance is an outcome; leave outcomes to God; take care of people as that is my role here on earth.
Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome
What the Lord is Saying:
Background
I was speaking to someone yesterday in church and we were reminded of how Paul grounds us in truth. And we must be grounded in truth before we can understand application. And it is interesting how I so often want to know how this applies to me, but I must first look at how it is defined. And Paul in Romans spent 11 chapters laying the groundwork and then follows it with 5 chapters of application. Doctrine and application work together.
This is a chapter of service. Paul sets the tone in verse 1 and 2 by encouraging the person in Christ to present themselves before God. Our service to others is an act of worship. We praise God through our good deeds in serving others. Is it fair to say that if we truly lived our lives in constant service to others that there would be no need for selfish behavior? Selfishness is often a byproduct of not getting what we think we deserve.
Paul has dealt with our thought life (verse 3), our acts of service (verse 4-8), our authentic behavior as members of Christ's kingdom (verse 9), our desires-for good (verse 9), our devotion to our brothers (verse 10), perseverance and hospitality (verse 12, 13), our attitude toward those who have selfish motives and take it out on us (verse 14), our empathy (verse 15), our feeling of superiority because of all the preceding verses, if we do them, and our position in Christ (verse 16)), our attitude to those who want evil for us (verse 17) and our disposition with all people (verse 18).
Revenge is in God's Hands
Now in verse 19, we are commanded to not try to get even with a person that has done us wrong. I think the bottom line in this verse is trust. Do I trust God in light of the evil that has been done toward me? Even though all the voices around me are telling me to fight back, do I trust God for His outcome in that person's life?
I think the problem with this is we want to be seen as the victor. We want this victory for ourselves, but we also want to be seen by others, that everyone sees that in the end, I was right. All those TV shows that we watch where the bad person does an act that hurts another person and the police person shows up and gives the idea, "They will get what is coming to them." Yes, we need to punish evil in this life. But, not for the benefit of ourselves or the person that has been wronged but because evil is evil.
But rather meet his needs
Instead of revenge, verse 20 offers that we are to help meet the needs of the person that has wronged you. This will make the person realize he has been silly in committing deeds of evil.
Easier said than done. In the moment, this is hard. It is hard because everything in the world has us reacting in a different manner. We are trained to frustrate our offender.
Unfortunately, I see myself doing this in too many ways, but mostly to the people that I love the most: my family. But, mostly my kids. They do something out of disrespect, and I take an offense to this and rather than being diplomatic I want to get even. This is a hard line for me to draw. What isn't revenge and what is instead punishment?
Promise: God calls us to trust Him to set things right.
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