Are You Asking God to Avenge You Immediately?
There is always the tendency to sing "Amazing Justice" where a person thinks, "I did not deserve this God. I was a good person. You should have punished the wicked." The lyrics of "Amazing Justice" tends to go to like this:
This should be a real bother to Christian character when they are asking themselves to be avenged immediately because God is holy. In the world today, it is easy to see the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer. It is easy to see the wicked to get easily accepted and forgiven for their mistakes while a Christian who falls down is roasted in the flames of hypocrisy. It is very easy to get tempted and say, "God why do you not avenge me? You saw what they did. You are not blind. Why did that tower fall on me? It should have fell on him. Him who has all those sins." With those words, it does make a Christian in that moment sound like a Pharisee. That is why they are told to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
Why does not God avenge His Elect immediately? Deuteronomy 32:35 says, "To Me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." Did you read the words, "their foot shall slide in due time"? It is plain and simple that God forbids revenge because it only creates a cycle of hatred. Nowhere in the Old Testament is revenge ever encouraged or allowed and this verse says that vengeance belongs to God and not to man. Worse, in today's society it is highly possible to confuse revenge with justice as much as one can confuse eye for eye and tooth for tooth to allow revenge or forgiving your enemy to condoning their sin. Christians are called to speak out and stand against evil but only in love for sinners, not out of hatred or spite. It is all about love sinners enough to tell them the truth about their need for salvation.
Arthur Pink wrote this passage that reminds us why God does not immediately avenge His Elect:
What might be very easy to forget and neglect is that God punishes the Christian who sins first because He is a loving Father and Christians belong to Him. Hebrews 12:5-7 says, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the LORD, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" When it comes to asking, "Why did the tower fall on me?" then perhaps God's answer is, "I decided to let the tower fall on you because you dishonored me. Today, you really decided to get even with somebody when you should be forgiving to that person and praying for his salvation. You were a sinner before you were saved. Do not think you are better than he is. I decided to let you suffer to remind you that your new life is not your own effort but My grace working in you."
When it comes to salvation, the issue has always been about mercy. It is very easy to forget that Christianity is living a holy and righteous life by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 2:11-14) and not by one's own individual merit. If God only decided to play fair and not have mercy then everyone would go to Hell. Everyone really started off as difficult sinners before they were saved (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). If God decided to avenge immediately then nobody would be saved. We would not hear of wonderful testimonies of how some modern day Pharisees can become preachers like Paul of Tarsus, we would not see some testimonies of homosexuals who were delivered from their homosexuality, we would not see God turn the most wicked sinner into the best of Christians if it was not for His longsuffering. Although God's longsuffering has its limits, the issue of salvation has been based on God's setting generous limits towards sinners and not because sinners deserve that grace period for them to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Amazing justice cruel and sharp/That wounds a saint like me/I'm that good it made no sense/That tower fell on me
This should be a real bother to Christian character when they are asking themselves to be avenged immediately because God is holy. In the world today, it is easy to see the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer. It is easy to see the wicked to get easily accepted and forgiven for their mistakes while a Christian who falls down is roasted in the flames of hypocrisy. It is very easy to get tempted and say, "God why do you not avenge me? You saw what they did. You are not blind. Why did that tower fall on me? It should have fell on him. Him who has all those sins." With those words, it does make a Christian in that moment sound like a Pharisee. That is why they are told to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
Why does not God avenge His Elect immediately? Deuteronomy 32:35 says, "To Me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." Did you read the words, "their foot shall slide in due time"? It is plain and simple that God forbids revenge because it only creates a cycle of hatred. Nowhere in the Old Testament is revenge ever encouraged or allowed and this verse says that vengeance belongs to God and not to man. Worse, in today's society it is highly possible to confuse revenge with justice as much as one can confuse eye for eye and tooth for tooth to allow revenge or forgiving your enemy to condoning their sin. Christians are called to speak out and stand against evil but only in love for sinners, not out of hatred or spite. It is all about love sinners enough to tell them the truth about their need for salvation.
Arthur Pink wrote this passage that reminds us why God does not immediately avenge His Elect:
God's Long Suffering
How wondrous is God's patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The Divine law is trampled under foot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that he does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him.
Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and Sapphira? (Acts 5:1-10).
Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of His people, so that, like Dathan and Abiram, they shall go down alive into the Pit? (Numbers 16:1-35).
And what of apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ?
Why does not the righteous wrath of Heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible: because God bears with "much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." (Romans 9:22).
God bears long with the wicked notwithstanding the multitude of their sins, and shall we desire to be revenged because of a single injury?
What might be very easy to forget and neglect is that God punishes the Christian who sins first because He is a loving Father and Christians belong to Him. Hebrews 12:5-7 says, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the LORD, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" When it comes to asking, "Why did the tower fall on me?" then perhaps God's answer is, "I decided to let the tower fall on you because you dishonored me. Today, you really decided to get even with somebody when you should be forgiving to that person and praying for his salvation. You were a sinner before you were saved. Do not think you are better than he is. I decided to let you suffer to remind you that your new life is not your own effort but My grace working in you."
When it comes to salvation, the issue has always been about mercy. It is very easy to forget that Christianity is living a holy and righteous life by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 2:11-14) and not by one's own individual merit. If God only decided to play fair and not have mercy then everyone would go to Hell. Everyone really started off as difficult sinners before they were saved (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). If God decided to avenge immediately then nobody would be saved. We would not hear of wonderful testimonies of how some modern day Pharisees can become preachers like Paul of Tarsus, we would not see some testimonies of homosexuals who were delivered from their homosexuality, we would not see God turn the most wicked sinner into the best of Christians if it was not for His longsuffering. Although God's longsuffering has its limits, the issue of salvation has been based on God's setting generous limits towards sinners and not because sinners deserve that grace period for them to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.