Give Wrath Some Space
Romans 12:19
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Has someone ever done something that angered you so much that you wanted to retaliate? I imagine everyone has faced this at some point in their life. Life is filled with hurts and injustices. It is in these times when our Christianity is tested and our testimony is on the line. All it takes is one act of retaliation to ruin a testimony that you worked so hard to build.
There is a process that many people go through that leads to retaliation. First, a person has been hurt or experiences an injustice. Someone does something to you, and you are hurt by this person. Normally, this is not done by your enemy, for you would expect this from them, but this is done by someone to whom you were close. This hurt or injustice, if not quickly dealt with, leads to anger. Anger is a human response to hurt and injustice. It is at this point when you must be careful, because anger not dealt with properly will lead to wrath.
Wrath is simply anger that wants revenge. It is like a time bomb ready to explode inside you. When wrath is present, then you must be very careful, because wrath can come out and do many hurtful things that you will regret later in life. God says that you must “…give place unto wrath:…” In other words, you must give wrath some space. Giving place for wrath simply means that you must give God the time to work out your situation. Notice, God said that vengeance belongs to Him. God is teaching that you must allow Him the time to take care of your situation. Let me give you some thoughts about dealing with hurts and injustices.
First, don’t react to hurts or injustices. God says, “…avenge not yourselves…” God is simply trying to teach you that you must not react when someone hurts you or when you experience an injustice. These are going to happen, but you must learn that reacting will hurt you more than it will hurt the one whom you want to retaliate against.
Second, trust God and wait on His timing. God knows when you have done nothing wrong, and He will take care of the situation in His timing. God’s timing will not always seem to be quick enough, but He knows the best time to deal with that person. The difference between how God deals with a situation is that God exercises vengeance to restore someone, and we exercise vengeance to hurt someone. God knows when you have done nothing wrong, and in His timing He will take care of the situation. You must give it to God and let Him fight the battle for you.
Third, sometimes the best reaction is to step away. When you have been hurt, you simply need to give yourself space away from that person so that you don’t do something dumb. I’ve learned that when I’m angry, the best thing I can do is step away until my passions subside.
Last, do good to overcome your evil desires. Verse 21 says, “…overcome evil with good.” The best way to stop your desire to hurt someone is to do good to them. When you find out they have a need, then do what you can to help them. This will certainly take God’s help, but this is how you deal with those whom you want to hurt.
Christian, you have worked hard to have a good testimony, and all it takes is one moment of retaliation to ruin it. Be careful that you don’t let your anger turn to wrath. Give yourself some space by letting God act in your place. God knows how to avenge your wrong. Trust Him, and you will find that He will deal with it better than you can, and He will keep your name from being tarnished.