Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Let God Handle It

Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

-- Leviticus 19:17-18

It is normal to want desperately to lash out when someone hurts you. It is normal to want to hurt the people who hurt you first. It is normal to want revenge. What is normal, though, isn’t what we’re called to do. That’s the hard part.

We are to forgive. We are to move on. We are to be gracious and kind, compassionate even, in the midst of trials that sometimes know no end. Difficult? Yes. But necessary -- for us.

It is too easy to let ourselves be drawn into the hardness of the fight. We become like the people we so dislike in a vain effort to give them what we think they deserve. We forget to let God handle it. We don’t trust that He’ll do it as well as we believe we can. We don’t believe that God will stand firm and deliver a harsh rebuke to the person who harmed us. We don’t trust that He won’t show them compassion -- like He has shown us for our own transgressions.

Oops. Because we are all sinners. Sometimes in action. Sometimes in word. Sometimes in thought. Sometimes all at the same time. And God has shown us compassion. He sent His Son to die for us. Such love is beyond anything we can comprehend. Yet we’re called to understand and respond accordingly.

It isn’t easy. Sometimes forgiveness is a daily choice to give it to God. To pray for those who hurt you. To replace evil thoughts with scripture.

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

-- Luke 6:27

We always hurt ourselves most when we harbor hatred and ill-feelings. We become consumed with the person who hurt us rather than focus our lives on what is right and good. Our feelings become a burden that is so heavy we can’t move forward. We can’t heal. We are mired in an never-ending cycle that will slowly destroy us.

Unless we give it all to Jesus. Unless we place our burden at the altar. Unless we trust that God will take care of it in His own time and way.

Let it go. Day after day, if need be. But give it to God and let it go.