Is This a Worthy Prayer?

O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? 

 

(It's in the Bible: Revelation 6:10)

A Prayer

Father,

You are the God of vengeance. You are the one who has said, ‘Vengeance is mine. I shall repay.’ This is an aspect of who You are that we don’t hear very much about. This is an aspect of who You are that we are not as familiar with. We talk about Your love and Your grace and how awesome it is for us to enjoy these aspects of Your character. But we don’t talk much about how You will avenge Yourself on Your enemies. But You will. This is simply an expression of Your justice. This creation is Yours. You are the God who runs this place. And You have made it abundantly clear that You have expectations. All creatures are to acknowledge that You are God. This is simply agreeing with reality. You are God. And You have also made it abundantly clear that all who refuse to do this, all who rebel against You, will be held accountable for their choices. You will repay them for their refusal to acknowledge the obvious. You are God. We feel uncomfortable thinking about this, but it makes sense. You are the just God who rules creation.

This helps us as we find ourselves confronted by those who hate You and take it out on us. There will be justice. But it isn’t something for us to try to bring about. Vengeance belongs to You.

There should be sadness as we contemplate what will happen to Your enemies. You take no pleasure in the death of the wicked and neither should we. And yet it is a comfort for us to know that a day is coming when You will vindicate Your name and Your Gospel. Grant us the patience we need to wait for that day.

As we contemplate Your justice remind us that the only reason we will not have to face it is Jesus. We will never experience Your just rage against our rebellion because Jesus already has. Humble us with that thought as we consider the fate of so many. And motivate us with this truth so that the rebels that we know will see the effects of the Gospel in our lives. And seeing that, we ask that they would come to submit to Jesus as Savior and Lord, and give up their rebellious ways. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen.

An Avenging God

We return to take another look at God, to take another shot at answering the question: What is God like? We’re doing this because it’s so very important to know God and to know Him well - to know His character, His attitudes, His goals. The knowledge of God is the basis for living well. An incomplete understanding of God results in problems. The person who doesn’t understand God well will not understand reality well. And how can anyone live well without understanding the reality within which he lives?

Listen to another description of God.

An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. ​The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. ​He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. ​The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. ​The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. Nahum 1.1-8