God's Vengeance, Not Ours!

The infamous 19th-century feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys started with a fight over a razorback hog. It turned into a vendetta that continued unabated for several decades. Members of both families committed brutal murders, and their fighting brought heartache to every family in the valley of the Tug Fork River, along the border of Kentucky and West Virginia.

The men who started this bitter and destructive violence, William Hatfield and Randolph McCoy, were responsible for scores of deaths, but they were never brought to justice in a court of law. Although they both lived long lives, they had to watch the suffering and death of their loved ones.

Vengeance is never the right path to tread, because God alone has the wisdom and patience needed to punish evildoers properly and to bring them to justice. He treads the winepress of His wrath "alone" (Isaiah 63:3; cf. Revelation 14:18-20), and He doesn’t need any assistance from us.

The world tells us, “Don’t get mad, get even!” But the inspired writer, Paul, gives us this instruction: “Repay no one evil for evil …. Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:17-19; cf. Deuteronomy 32:35).

Dear reader, let us remember that we can endure life’s wrongs because we know God will make things right (Luke 18:7-8).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets