Vengeance is the Lord’s

We serve a jealous God. He is not one to share his glory with another. God delights in himself. He is full and self-sufficient. He does not need anything from man, in fact nothing that we give him adds a thing to himself, His life or all that He is. Should we then be surprised that a self-sufficient God, all-powerful, all-knowing would want to be at the centre of all that He created? Or be the one orchestrating everything and having the final word? I don’t pretend to understand exactly why God would not want to share His glory with another but I do believe that one reason might be because He is the One who makes all things, does all things, is in all things. It is in His very nature to be at the centre, to act, to be sovereign over everything and to constantly be making plans for his children. I have always loved the way God loves His work and talks it. In Job 38-41, when God questions Job about his creation, He goes into such detail explaining or describing his creation and the distinctive ways in which his creatures behave. Whether it is in nature or in other beings, the Lord delights in his creation. And we know that man is by far his most excellent creation because it is the only creation made in his likeness and the only one for which He died. As a matter of fact, Genesis tells us that when God created the world and everything in it including man, he declared it very good (Genesis 1:31). Therefore, he delights in what he creates.

Unfortunately, the mistake we often make as humans is to want to act like we are the makers, the orchestrators of our lives, the ones who make things happen, the ones who take control of every and any situation that come our way. We want to be the heroes, we love the glory, we love to tap ourselves on the back and let everyone delight in us and appreciate just how much we are great and how lucky the world is to have us. When we do that though, we displace God, we tell Him effectively that we, the servants, the creatures, do not need Him and can take care of ourselves alone (a lie we too often believe). This, in turn makes us competitors of God which is futile because God has no competitors. It is also this same mindset that turned Satan into a fallen angel. Elevating ourselves above God is sin and we must not entertain that idea even as an ephemeral thought nor should we engage in that act. That is why the bible is filled with the humility refrain. Christ our Passover lamb was humbled to death, even death on a cross. Similarly, I believe one of the reasons it says in the bible that David was a man after God’s heart is because of his humility. In his humility, David did not seek to elevate himself above Saul even though he (David) was already told by the prophet Samuel that he was going to be king of Israel, scratch that; David was already anointed to be king yet he did not set himself above Saul or even at the same level as Saul. In that same mindset, David waited for God’s timing, never trying to force a situation, or provoke the fulfilment of the prophecy about his kingship. That attitude brought the Lord’s presence with him wherever he went. Moreover, the humility David displayed also taught him not to take matters into his own hands. This is quite difficult to do especially when you are put in situations that look like they are from the Lord (See 1 Samuel 26:8). Although David’s life was a constant escape from Saul his enemy, he never sought to avenge himself but always rested on the Lord. He often remembered that vengeance is the Lord’s therefore he would not lay his hands on the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel 26:11). When we are faced with the temptation to take matters in our own hands and displace God, we should pray for someone like Abigail, the wife of Nabal. I don’t recall hearing many sermons on her or even her being spoken of much in churches, but she should be because she displays great wisdom and humility. More than that, her actions stopped David from seeking vengeance and sinning against the Lord. We all need someone like Abigail. So, who is this Abigail? We know that she was married to a “surly and mean” husband but that she herself was very beautiful and intelligent. Aside from this, we do not know much about where she came from or whose family line she belonged to. At least, I couldn’t get that from simply reading chapter 25 of 1 Samuel. In the story we are told that David humbly came before Nabal to request provisions. We are also told that David made this request because he had had the opportunity to bless Nabal by being a shepherd to his flock and protecting all that belonged to Nabal. Unfortunately, Nabal did not care much about the act David and his men did to him and instead refused David’s request in an arrogant and extremely disrespectful manner. This refusal infuriated David and he set to avenge himself from Nabal by gathering his men to go destroy Nabal and all that he had. Luckily for David, Nabal’s wife Abigail is told of the event and immediately sets off to meet David with several provisions. In their meeting, Abigail shows extreme humility towards David, she first acknowledges the harm done by her husband and does not try to make him look good or act as though she was the one who did it. No, she calls the bad attitude of her husband what it is, and even goes as far as saying that he bears his name well as Nabal means fool. What Abigail does instead is to appeal to David’s mercy. She asks that the blame be put on her and that David not take vengeance in his own hands essentially because the Lord is with him and has already decided to elevate him as king and when the Lord does what he promised, she would want to spare David of the guilt of having needless bloodshed on his head by avenging himself on a useless man like her husband. What’s more, Abigail keeps pointing David to God’s promises to him and of David’s identity both of which help him relent and praise God for his kindness toward him. Because of what Abigail did, lives were spared, a land was kept safe, peace continued to reign and most importantly sin was not committed by a child of God. Indeed, we need an Abigail when we are faced with the temptation to seek justice ourselves. I pray we all continuously remind ourselves that we are not God, rather we are his creatures, his servants and that everything that we have belongs to him, and that everything that we are belongs to him. It might be cliché in our Christian circles, but it is still very true, and we will do well to say it to ourselves every day and act accordingly. Help us O God to see ourselves in the right perspective and to leave vengeance, honour and glory to you. Amen.