The God of Vengeance
by Jim Witteveen
Psalm 94:1 – “O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!”
Read: Psalm 94:1–11
We live in a world filled with injustice, oppression, and wickedness. In his Word, God calls us to protect, defend, and provide for the widow, the sojourner, and the orphan—those who are unable to provide for themselves. But in a sinful world, the injustice continues.
The wicked often appear to have free reign. Justice is delayed, and justice is denied. The strong prey on the weak. Those who hate God and his people oppress and afflict them. In many parts of the world, Christians suffer at the hands of the ungodly. And those who are the least capable of defending themselves, the unborn, are the most at risk.
So what should we do in the face of rampant injustice? Psalm 94 gives us the answer: we can cry out to the God of vengeance—that he would shine forth, judge the earth, and repay to the proud what they deserve. Taking revenge ourselves is no solution. Lashing out in anger and violence against the oppressor is not what God would have us do. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves,” the apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:19, “but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”
Unlike human revenge, the vengeance of the Lord is righteous; his justice is perfect. When we seek revenge, we only perpetuate wickedness and a cycle of violence. However, when the God of vengeance shines forth, perfect justice is done, once and for all. So we leave vengeance to the Lord, knowing that he will set right everything that is so wrong in the world. We look forward in confident expectation to the day when God “will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed”—our Lord Jesus Christ. He has risen from the dead (Acts 17:31), and this is God’s guarantee to us that justice will ultimately be done.
Therefore, we know that we don’t have to take the law into our own hands in order to overturn the injustices that are done to us, or to others. With the psalmist, we can pray and we can trust that the Lord’s justice will be done. Whether we are witnessing the suffering of others or experiencing that suffering ourselves, we can rest in that knowledge, and rejoice in that assurance. The God of vengeance will shine forth!
Photo by Sam Howzit 