The Best Retribution - God Will Get Him Or Her

Psalm 103:2-4,8-10

When we are hurt, we often want our tormentor to suffer hurt too. God's Spirit, when it dwells in us, wants the tormentor to find healing and peace.

Soul Food

Psalm 103:2-4,8-10

“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion….”

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”

Soul Search

• Have you ever been hurt so badly by someone that either secretly or overtly you have “wished” hurt back on that person?
  Can you talk about it?

• Do you currently wish some type of retribution or hurt on anyone right now and if so, why?
  If you don’t wish retribution or hurt on anyone but you did previously, what changed in you and how did it change so that you no longer seek retribution?

• Jesus, on the cross, asked God to forgive the very people who were torturing Him and who would ultimately kill Him.
  You might say, “Well, He was able to do that because He is God.”
  Do you think it’s possible to do what Jesus did when we have been hurt or is that kind of attitude and forgiveness impossible?

• Can you remember a time when you hurt someone badly?
  How did that situation get resolved?
  Did you find yourself wanting the person you hurt to forgive you?

Soul Moves

• Ask God to show you if you’re harboring any resentment, anger or bitterness toward someone who has hurt you.

• If you are, indeed, harboring ill-will toward someone who has injured you, does that hurt extend to wishing that that person suffers in some way too?

• In your hurt and pain, ask God to show you the things in you that He wants to heal.
  Injury to us caused by others can uncover and reveal not-so-healthy things about us in the way that we respond to hurt.

• Ask God to work in you to be (and become) someone who remembers how much you need others’ understanding and forgiveness when you hurt and fail them and by being that person, you will be one who extends that same understanding and forgiveness when others hurt and fail you.