Overcome Evil With Good

Genesis 34:30 – 31 - Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”  But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

Dinah had been taken by Shechem…the son of a man in a nearby town. He laid with her….claiming love for her…and then asked to have her for his wife. Instead of just saying no….and asking God how to deal with the horrible plight of their sister…they devised a plan. They required Shechem and the whole town of men to become like them…and be circumcised….knowing all along they were going to take advantage of them in three days while they were still in pain. They killed all the town’s men…plundered the town…and took all their wives and children as their own.

Jacob was upset with his sons. He worried about the neighboring towns attacking them while they were small in number. But the sons held fast to what they had done….claiming vengeance for their sister’s violation. A bigger problem was created that Jacob did not even see. They did not think about the consequences of their actions…how bringing the plunder of idols and women and children with other beliefs would affect their faith in God.

Simply stated ….more than one place in the Bible….vengeance is only for the Lord. We are never to take a situation of wrong doing into our own hands. Just read Deuteronomy 32:35…or Matthew 5:38-45…or Romans 12:17-21. Or think about how Samson’s desire to seek vengeance was the beginning of his end.

I admit that is very hard to let wrongs just go….and not react to them. Our heart wants justice…even thinks it has to have it to heal from the hurt. We can’t bear to see the ones we love suffer and really have a hard time accepting the pain when it happens to us.

Romans 12:17-21 states it the plainest for me.  It says… “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.   On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I will say too that these directions on how to treat those that hurt us are REALLY hard to do. But if we believe in what the Bible says….we must try to carry out even these seemingly hard things to do.  Jesus did it…and we are supposed to try too.

Father…thank you for the reminder that you are the only one who has the right to bring justice in times of wrong.  Forgive me for the times that I have tried to pay back the hurts done to me with more hurt…modeling the opposite of what you are about to others.  Help me to internalize and use the love you gave me to control my fleshly desire to right wrongs …so I can let hurts go so you can deal with them in your own time.  Amen.