In the Hands of God

He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.
1 Peter 2:23-24a NLT

I feel like I could just say "Amen" right there and leave it at that.

Yesterday, I was very insulted. I wanted so badly to retaliate! I wrote an email to defend myself, but got a check in my spirit before I hit 'send'. So I paused and asked my sister to proof it for me before I sent it (even though I still had every intention to send it). She totally nixed it. Completely. So I looked for an alternate way to defend myself. She nixed that, too. There is MUCH to be said (and to be grateful for) when walking with other believers.

I will confess that I was not instantly mollified. I knew I HAD to pray so I did. I chose to forgive and confessed it to God. (I still was feeling ticked off.) I had to CHOOSE to NOT continue to lick those wounds, to NOT nurse it and rehearse it.

This morning, when I got up, I remembered again the Scripture of Christ not retaliating, not answering a word, so I looked it up. And there it was, He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. And MORE!  He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. Dead to sin. 

Dead men don't retaliate. We must choose to trust God in all things, to leave it all in His hands...even the insults.

Prayer:

Father,
           We pray according to Your Word in James 4. Help us to fully embrace Your Word and its meaning. We know You are passionate that the spirit You have placed within us should be faithful to You. We humble ourselves before You, O God, and we will resist the ways of the enemy, so he has to flee. Thank You for Your generous outpouring of Grace! We want to be close to You. We want clean hands and pure hearts. We pledge our loyalty to You and You alone. We choose to trust You in all things, leaving it ALL in Your hands. Let us be dead to sin, Father. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.