“The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; By understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, And the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: Keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, And grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, And thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, Neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, And shall keep thy foot from being taken. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of thine hand to do it.”
Proverbs 3:19-27 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.3.19-27.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 ...