Don't Try To Get Even!

God has put your enemy in your grasp. 1 Samuel 26:8 TM When David had a chance for revenge after Saul tried to kill him, all he did was cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Later while Saul slept, one of David's men said, "God has put your enemy in your grasp." Again David refused. Later he told Saul, "God put your life in my hands today, but I wasn't willing to lift a finger against God's anointed" (v. 23 TM). David didn't see Saul the enemy, he saw Saul the anointed - God's property. Max Lucado writes, "A Rottweiler attacked our puppy at a kennel, leaving her with gashes and a dangling ear. I wrote to the dog's owner urging him to put the dog to sleep. But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner she begged me to reconsider. 'What that dog did was horrible, but I'm still training him and I'm not finished with him yet.'" God would say the same about the person who attacked you. "What he did was inexcusable, but I'm not finished with him yet."
	Are you keeping track of old scores? Don't do it! God said, "Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you. I'll take care of it" (Romans 12:19 TM). By seeking revenge you're saying, "God, You're not handling things properly, not punishing them sufficiently, not moving fast enough." Dick Innes said: "To be hurt without forgiving, crushed without becoming more caring, suffer without growing more sensitive, makes suffering senseless, futile, a tragic loss, the greatest waste of all." Make Jesus your example; "When He suffered, He didn't make threats, but left everything to the One who judges fairly" (1 Peter 2:23 GWT). Bob Gass
PRAISE GOD BLESSED BE THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD