July 5

Don’t Build Gallows

 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

––Romans 12:17-19

When you’ve been wronged, cheated, or otherwise disrespected, what goes through your mind? I’m not proud to say that when someone treats me poorly, thoughts of revenge sometimes pop into my mind. Nothing too dramatic—just a flash of anger that says, “God, let  me give them what’s coming to them.” But of course, that’s not how God works. We are not in the revenge game, we are in the justice game.

When I think of justice, I think of the story of Esther. Though God’s name is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, His power and justice are demonstrated throughout. To refresh: A young, beautiful Jewish girl is plucked from obscurity to serve in the foreign court of Persian King Ahasuerus. As Esther rises in prominence, so does a plot by Haman, one of the king’s key advisors, to wipe out all the Jews in the kingdom. It all started because Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, refused to bow down to the king. In response, Haman wanted revenge.

In one of the most dramatic plot twists in the Old Testament, the gallows built to hang Mordecai are used to hang the very man who built them: Haman. Esther is queen, the king reverses Haman’s order, and justice is served.

There’s another key word at play in this story, which Miriam-Webster defines this way:

vengeance

noun

ven·​geance ˈven-jən(t)s 

: punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense : RETRIBUTION

Here’s the upshot for God’s men today: we don’t take revenge, and we place vengeance in the hands of God. This means that justice is in God’s hands, ultimately, and not ours. We act as instruments of His justice, but not of His vengeance. Big difference. Make no mistake, while God loves us and wants us to turn to Him, there are consequences for the choices we make. The biggest, of course, is whether or not we choose to embrace Jesus as Lord. Jesus was very clear on this: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

Instead of seeking justice, Haman chose his own form of vengeance and built gallows—to sow hate and pursue revenge. Whereas Mordecai and Esther chose the path of justice, leaving vengeance (retribution) in the hands of God. One (vengeance) leads to discord and misery, while the other (biblical justice) leads to peace.

Father, help me surrender vengeance at Your throne, and to pursue justice even when others wrong me.