We live in a fallen world among people with a fallen nature. The world isn’t fully at peace as God originally designed it. Because of the first man’s choice to choose sin, we live in a world with sin, and in this world are people who live selfishly – even to the point of oppressing others for selfish gain.
Corporations cheat and exploit. Countries and political systems oppress. People fight for selfish ambitions, and when self is the only focus, there is no limit to the depths some people will go. We live in a fallen world; however, there is a path of God that weaves through the timeline of history. For those who will trust the Lord, He calls them to a better way. As the Bible states, “Blessed is the one whose heart is on a pilgrimage.”
To those with eyes of faith, even though we live in a fallen world, God has prepared a path for you to experience life more abundantly. The real question for each believer is this: Will you leave God’s design when someone wrongs you?
Human pride says, “I’m not letting them get away with this,” but God has a better way. Look at Psalm 9:9–10
9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble.
10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
What a promise! When you are wronged, that is when you face the crossroad of decision. The Lord can be your refuge in any situation. Or you can choose not to trust Him and avenge yourself, allow anger and bitterness to own your mind, and choose hatred over the blessed life. I’ve met many people who justified anger and ‘getting back’ at others, but I have never met a man or woman at peace who focused on the wrongs.
This is true even in the church. How many times have we heard, “It’s the principle of the matter,” as justification to hate, retaliate, and regurgitate anger? That is nothing but selfish pride refusing to let go of an offense. Here is the true principle of the matter, The Lord is our refuge if we trust Him. The Lord blesses those wronged if they seek Him instead of their right to retaliate. Consider these two passages:
Proverbs 20:22
Do not say, “I will repay evil”; Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.
Proverbs 24:29
Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.”
Throughout life, we will be faced with this choice many times. The Bible explicitly states in the Old and New Testaments, do not repay evil for evil, and do not decide you are going to repay or get back at someone for the wrong you feel has been done to you.
Therefore, each of us has a choice. God’s way, or human nature’s way? Swallow pride, or defend it? Justify our ideas of self-defense, or release it into God’s hands? When faced with this principle, Jesus’ disciples struggled with this as well. Peter spoke up and said, “If someone wrongs me, how many times do I have to forgive? Seven times?”
That seemed like a generous offer. I’ll let my offender get away with it seven times before I retaliate. However, Jesus destroyed this human reasoning. “No. Not seven times. Seventy times seven.” In essence, Jesus is saying always forgive. I can remember back seven times, but not four hundred and ninety times. I can only do that if I’m keeping track, and if I’m keeping score that far back, I haven’t forgiven.
What Jesus is saying is that the wrongs done to us are irrelevant – if we are walking in faith. Having been in the faith for many decades, I can attest that when we trust in the Lord, people may be able to rob us along the way, but God out-blesses what we have lost. The problem with human nature is that we tend to focus on what was lost instead of what the Lord has repaid.
Some time back, I had a lot of things stolen from me by a family member. Some of those things I really valued – especially collectables I had been gathering since I was a child. I chose to let go of this wrong – sort of. I didn’t retaliate, but on occasions I revisited the wrong. I’ll say that I was cheated out of a lot, but God abundantly repaid me. God blessed so much more than I lost, yet I found myself saying things like, “I would have this, but this person stole it.” One day that came again to remembrance and the Lord opened my eyes. How can I grumble about a loss, and then be thankful for what God has repaid? Either I’m looking at the blessing, or I am brooding about the wrong. I can’t live in gratitude and expect God’s blessing while I am holding on to a wrong. I realized I had to let go and truly forgive.
When we can’t forgive or let go, that is when we’re tempted to retaliate, and we can convince ourselves that we are justified in doing so. We can’t. The moment we step into that bitterness, we are stepping out of the blessed path. Bitterness destroys us, but forgiveness rebuilds us. Look at Romans 12:19–21
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
There is a double-meaning in verse 19. God will repay the wrongs done based on His grace. Just as when we were offenders against God, He didn’t repay us evil for our sins, but instead offered grace and forgiveness, He will do the same for those who wrong us. Jesus told the story of two debtors. One owed more money than he could repay in a lifetime, and one only owed one day’s wage. The man with the mountain of debt was forgiven, and then retaliated against the man who owed him a day’s wage. He punished the man who could not repay, even though he himself had been forgiven of so much more than the debt he was demanding be repaid to him.
His lord gave him the path he chose. If he wanted to live in mercilessness, he could experience the same. The mountain of debt was accounted back to him again.
We have to decide whether we want to live in a life where we demand justice, which also reveals our own wrongs, or do we want to live in the blessed life of grace and mercy. Mercy is when God doesn’t give us the punishment we deserve, and grace is when God gives us His blessings, which we cannot earn. All we can do is choose faith in Him, or faith in our selfish sense of justice.
In one choice, God repays us what we have lost in abundance, the other way, God lets us choose our selfish way, even though He has warned us that the selfish path will rob us of more than we have already lost. Do we allow God to repay, or are we going to demand justice? Our demand for justice perpetuates the losses, both for us, and to those we feel have wronged us. God’s repayment over-blesses us, and God then calls our enemies to choose mercy, or consequences. We can’t deny them mercy, and then ask for God to show us mercy.
The reality is that God’s mercy and grace is always available, but it can only be experienced on the path of faith in Him, His ways, and trusting His word. The real choice is faith leading into the abundant life, or disbelief, where we step out of grace and into the life of human nature, where sin dwells. And we know the wages of sin is death, so anything on the human path of self-will produces consequences and frustration.
Faith calls us to overcome evil with good. When we can’t trust in God’s ways, we are overcome with evil. Remember, God repays more than anyone can rob from you – but you have to choose life through faith in Him.
Release it all. God fills empty hands.
Eddie Snipes 2025