Beware of Carpet Tacks Ahead!
Back in Ohio where I grew up my mom and dad have an in ground swimming pool. I don’t remember how old I was, but one fateful Sunday we were having a family picnic and I crawled out of the pool to swing on a hammock. I was swinging too hard and on the hammock sideways and knocked my head against the wooden deck. My sister came running up to make fun of me. Starting to call me a “big klutz”’ which truthfully wasn’t far off, for some reason that ticked me off. She started running to the house to tell my grandmother what a klutz I was, and I newly wet from the pool started chasing her to stop her. I don’t know what I thought I would prove to think I would stop her. My mom and dad at the time needed their carpet replaced. We had exposed carpet tacks in the entry way of the house just past a linoleum entry way. I hit that linoleum running after my sister, slipped on the water dripping from my body and flipped around. Those carpet tacks caught on my left side of my foot leaving very distinct long gashes in it. Blood was everywhere. Now in this instance I really was being a klutz, but it was my insistence on stopping my sister that got me into trouble.
The Bible says that vengeance belongs to God. Romans 12:19 (NASB) “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, " VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. Vengeance means punishment that is inflicted return for a wrong.
Often times people will wrong you in this life. They’ll lie about you, spread gossip, hate you unjustly, and continually look you over for promotion. It’s so easy to want to chase after them when they do and try to smack them upside their head. But if you do that, then you’re trying to get even. You’re trying to get them back when really it’s up to God to do that for you. When you try to do that for God, you’re not helping him. It ties his hands from bringing vengeance for you, and gets you bitter and frustrated in the process.
When Jesus was wrongfully accused the Bible says, Acts 8:32 (KJV)“The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth” Jesus didn’t try to fight them. He didn’t even open his mouth to tell them all what they were doing. He let God get the vengeance. He didn’t break free of his bondage and go chase after them, though he could have. He allowed God to have the final word.
Folks people will reap what they sow, and what goes around does come around. I’ve been in situations where I have seen God eventually bring vengeance back to me. One particular instance that comes to me now as I write this was a situation when I really had to take a stand for Christ. It was one of the most challenging times of my life. However about a year after that, someone “randomly” ran into me one day. His story came out. He was now serving the Lord because of what He saw me go through. He said he knew that in order for me to stand the way I did, God had to be real. That was vengeance because God worked good in a situation the devil had meant for evil in my life. Isaiah 63:4 says “For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.”
I believe we all need a good reminder that we don’t have to prove ourselves to ones in our lives, and we don’t have to sit around and plot how repay individuals for the junk they’ve put us through. I have seen God work this out time and time again. Eventually He will turn things around. Eventually He will silence the mouth of the enemy over you. Eventually He will bring the truth out. We have to trust him enough to do this. We have to be at peace with ourselves and the people around us and know that He is God.
The Bible says that vengeance belongs to God. Romans 12:19 (NASB) “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, " VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. Vengeance means punishment that is inflicted return for a wrong.
Often times people will wrong you in this life. They’ll lie about you, spread gossip, hate you unjustly, and continually look you over for promotion. It’s so easy to want to chase after them when they do and try to smack them upside their head. But if you do that, then you’re trying to get even. You’re trying to get them back when really it’s up to God to do that for you. When you try to do that for God, you’re not helping him. It ties his hands from bringing vengeance for you, and gets you bitter and frustrated in the process.
When Jesus was wrongfully accused the Bible says, Acts 8:32 (KJV)“The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth” Jesus didn’t try to fight them. He didn’t even open his mouth to tell them all what they were doing. He let God get the vengeance. He didn’t break free of his bondage and go chase after them, though he could have. He allowed God to have the final word.
Folks people will reap what they sow, and what goes around does come around. I’ve been in situations where I have seen God eventually bring vengeance back to me. One particular instance that comes to me now as I write this was a situation when I really had to take a stand for Christ. It was one of the most challenging times of my life. However about a year after that, someone “randomly” ran into me one day. His story came out. He was now serving the Lord because of what He saw me go through. He said he knew that in order for me to stand the way I did, God had to be real. That was vengeance because God worked good in a situation the devil had meant for evil in my life. Isaiah 63:4 says “For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.”
I believe we all need a good reminder that we don’t have to prove ourselves to ones in our lives, and we don’t have to sit around and plot how repay individuals for the junk they’ve put us through. I have seen God work this out time and time again. Eventually He will turn things around. Eventually He will silence the mouth of the enemy over you. Eventually He will bring the truth out. We have to trust him enough to do this. We have to be at peace with ourselves and the people around us and know that He is God.
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