wait… don’t retaliate

Do not say, “I will repay evil”;

wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.

Proverbs 20:22

One principle that informs waiting on the Lord goes something like this: Avoid the temptation to take matters into your own hands. This proverb warns against wanting to “repay evil”, seeking to create our own brand of justice when we feel we have been wronged. The greater principle is to wait ON THE LORD. God settles the accounts. God rewards the righteous. God punishes the wicked. Impatience seeks to do what only God can do, and impatience always fails.

The proverbs in chapter 20 have a sub theme involving planning, the future, and understanding that it is God Who controls all outcomes:

• Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war. Proverbs 20:18
• A man’s steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way? Proverbs 20:24

Contrasted with this sub theme is another sub theme teaching us about the instability of sinful human intellect and ability to be just:

• Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find? Proverbs 20:6
• Who can say “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? Proverbs 20:9
• Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright. Proverbs 20:11
• The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts. Proverbs 20:27

This inability on our part, which can only be overcome by trusting God for His part of making us holy, is why we must shelve our own plans to fix what we see as wrong in our world. It is why we must trust God as we wait for His justice to work. We can only act on what He reveals. Then we can “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).

Waiting on the Lord to bring what is right and just to us involves self-discipline. Yes, we do often experience the frustration of being in bad circumstances at the actions of sinful people. Yes, we must WAIT and PRAY FOR justice. Yes, we can trust God as we only do what He says as we wait. And taking matters of judgment into our own hands is never the solution. We will sin when doing so. Instead... Wait for the Lord. He will deliver.