“Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, And hast not made him to stand in the battle. Thou hast made his glory to cease, And cast his throne down to the ground. The days of his youth hast thou shortened: Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.”
Psalm 89:42-45 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.89.42-45.KJV
Undeserved Mercies
When someone hurts you or, worse, hurts somebody that you love, revenge can seem appealing. After all…
They were mean.
They were selfish.
They talked behind your back.
They broke a vital promise.
They lied about you.
They criticized you.
They ignored you.
They did the unthinkable.
They walked away.
They deserve to be punished, right? To feel some of that same pain? They deserve a consequence that will not only help them learn, but will be just as severe as the inflicted wounds.
And yet—because God sees things differently, both His standards and tactics can be surprising. And that’s why the apostle Paul, writing to the believers in Thessaloniki, said:
“See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.”
1 Thessalonians 5:15 NLT
Paul’s words sound a lot like Jesus’ words—to love your neighbor as yourself; to do to others what you’d like them to do to you. (See: Matthew 22:38-40)
God’s ways ...