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Respect , Revenge , Resentment
If you are like me you have suffered some injustices, some confusion and some difficulties during various times of your life. Things that happened in your youth may still be affecting you in various ways even to this day. You may still be trying to evaluate, access, understand, come to terms with, seek solutions for and probably most importantly praying to God for help in overcoming.
Devastating things can happen when you are young that may very well affect you for the rest of your life. To give you a simple example I once new a guy who was in a motor cycle accident. He got hurt fairly seriously. I saw him about ten years latter and he was still limping. I suspected that his injury may well have played a role in what work he was able to find and do and could well have redirected the path in his life. This of course is a mild example. If you have ever visited people in the hospital you will undoubtedly have met people or heard stories about patients who are no longer able to support themselves at all, people confined to wheel chairs for the rest of their lives, people on life support systems and of course many who did not survive. Some may be members of your own family.
Some people have been devastated by matters of the heart, hurt feelings, injustices, wrong doing, falsely accused, mal treated, treated unfairly, bullied, castigated, ignored, insulted, demeaned, devastated or overwhelmed. Sometimes because of their own stupid mistakes, sometimes because of ignorance and or innocence, sometimes because of lack of good judgment, or because of lack of experience.
But how do you handle your conundrum? It is quite a different story for those who have God^s spirit working with them. They already know how to resolve such issues; go to God, pray, fast, ask for help, be patient, trust in God, have faith. But our children do not have God^s spirit yet. God gives his spirit to committed mature baptized individuals, just like the ministry is not given to youth, Jesus was fully thirty years of age when he started His ministry. This is an example for us. The children of such parents are at a great advantage. Most of the people of the world though are very much left to their own devices.
This brings me to the title of this work, Respect, Revenge, Resentment.
Have respect for the righteous and beware of the unrighteous. You have no idea what their lives have entailed for the most part. They may know better than you, they may not. They may have something to teach you or they may have something to learn from you. They may become your enemies or they may become your friends. Do what is best because ultimately you want the situation to improve in all cases. (Proverbs 18:5, Philippians 3:2)
Do not seek revenge. It will only escalate the problem more often than not. It will ad fuel to the fire as is said. Also it will likely do you more harm than good emotionally and spiritually. Remember that God said that vengeance is His. Wait on the Lord and justice will be done. (Psalm 94:1, Isaiah 35:4)
Do not harbour resentment. It will eat away at you like a moth eats clothing. It will leave irreparable sores. The scars of injustice are bad enough. Ask God for help. Search for healing ways. Seek other friends. Find other interests. (Job 5:2, 36:13, Ecclesiastes 5:17)
Relocate if you have to. Abraham relocated. Jesus was taken to Egypt for a while. Israel was in captivity for 430 years in a foreign land and was then relocated to the promised land after spending another forty years in the dessert. Remember that it is God who is creating you and that you are a work in progress and that He is ultimately in control. You are in good hands. God is life and life is His. You are not your own. Trust in God to your death. Enjoy the experiences and the things that he shows you. (James 1:2)
You can give good advice like turn to God, ask, pray, fast, study His Word, meditate, worship Him, some people will take the advice. You can set an example, some people notice and react positively. You can tell your story, some will learn from it. But some things are better left alone. Paul said, do not even mention the things they do, Ephesians 5:12. So we should not mention some of the things we have done. It does say to confess your sins one to another, (James 5:16, 1 John 1:9). It does not say to go into detail.
One more bit of advice, when you turn to God be sure that it is the one and only true God, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and not some figment of the imagination, some imposture or some substitute. Show your love for Him by doing what He commands us to do and you will be healed eventually.
2012 Jacques Gauvin
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