Silas
Beloved of All
The pain and anger in your request are understandable. To have your car damaged, your fuel and oil stolen, your engine harmed, your phone taken, and to feel targeted with hate and ongoing plotting is a deep violation. It is natural to want justice and to want the harm to stop.
Scripture is clear that justice does belong to God, and that vengeance belongs to Him alone. The Lord says, vengeance is mine, I will repay. That truth is meant to restrain us from taking vengeance into our own hands. Even David, who prayed honestly about his enemies and asked God to deal with them, did not set himself to carry out vengeance. He left that work to the Lord. We are called to watch our own hearts in this area and to ask God to keep us from devising or desiring vengeance ourselves, because that desire can quickly lead us into sin.
God does see what is done in secret and He does not ignore wickedness. No one sins against Him without answer. Yet He is slow to anger, patient and merciful, and great in power. He reserves wrath for His enemies and will not clear the guilty, but His slowness is mercy, giving time for repentance. The prophet spoke of a day of vengeance in God's heart, but also of a year of redemption. When Jesus began His ministry He read of the year of the Lord's favor and closed the scroll before the words about the day of vengeance, because His first coming was to bring atonement and redemption, not immediate judgment. The day of God's vengeance and judgment is still future, when He will cleanse the earth of wickedness to establish His righteous reign. In the present time He holds out loving kindness and forgiveness.
That is why Jesus teaches a different way for us to pray for those who harm us. While there are prayers in the older Scriptures that call for judgment on enemies, Jesus calls His followers to bless those who curse you and to pray for those who mistreat you. We are not to ask God to destroy people, to erase families for generations, to take away marriages or property, or to extract vast sums of money by force. To pray for the ruin of others and to seek to take what is theirs is not the path God sets for us, and we cannot ask Him to bless that kind of request.
There is also a personal call for each of us before God. Forgiveness does not come by justifying our own anger or actions, but by confessing what is in our hearts. God says though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as white as snow when we come to Him openly. If we acknowledge our transgression, including the bitterness and hatred that can grow when we are wronged, He is faithful to deal with it and to cleanse us.
So the right way to bring this burden to God is to leave justice in His hands and to ask Him to work in His way and time. You can pray honestly about the wrong you have suffered, ask for His protection and provision, ask Him to stop the evil being done, and trust Him as the righteous judge who will repay. You can also pray for your own heart to be kept from hatred, and even pray for the salvation of those who have harmed you, that they would come to repentance and know the forgiveness that is offered through Jesus Christ alone.
A prayer in line with Scripture would be, Lord, You see what has been done and You know the loss and fear it has caused. I bring these people who have harmed me before You and leave them in Your hands. You are the judge of all the earth and vengeance belongs to You. Do what is just and right according to Your truth. Guard my heart from bitterness and from seeking revenge myself. Forgive me where I have harbored hatred, and cleanse me through Jesus. Deliver me from trouble, provide for what has been taken and broken, give me peace, and if it is Your will, bring those who do evil to repentance and salvation. I trust Your mercy and Your justice. In Jesus name, amen.
If theft and destruction have occurred, it is also wise to seek lawful help where you can, to report what has happened and to take practical steps for safety, while continuing to entrust your heart and your future to the Lord who promises it shall be well with those who walk in righteousness and who will let you eat the fruit of faithful obedience in His time.
Scripture is clear that justice does belong to God, and that vengeance belongs to Him alone. The Lord says, vengeance is mine, I will repay. That truth is meant to restrain us from taking vengeance into our own hands. Even David, who prayed honestly about his enemies and asked God to deal with them, did not set himself to carry out vengeance. He left that work to the Lord. We are called to watch our own hearts in this area and to ask God to keep us from devising or desiring vengeance ourselves, because that desire can quickly lead us into sin.
God does see what is done in secret and He does not ignore wickedness. No one sins against Him without answer. Yet He is slow to anger, patient and merciful, and great in power. He reserves wrath for His enemies and will not clear the guilty, but His slowness is mercy, giving time for repentance. The prophet spoke of a day of vengeance in God's heart, but also of a year of redemption. When Jesus began His ministry He read of the year of the Lord's favor and closed the scroll before the words about the day of vengeance, because His first coming was to bring atonement and redemption, not immediate judgment. The day of God's vengeance and judgment is still future, when He will cleanse the earth of wickedness to establish His righteous reign. In the present time He holds out loving kindness and forgiveness.
That is why Jesus teaches a different way for us to pray for those who harm us. While there are prayers in the older Scriptures that call for judgment on enemies, Jesus calls His followers to bless those who curse you and to pray for those who mistreat you. We are not to ask God to destroy people, to erase families for generations, to take away marriages or property, or to extract vast sums of money by force. To pray for the ruin of others and to seek to take what is theirs is not the path God sets for us, and we cannot ask Him to bless that kind of request.
There is also a personal call for each of us before God. Forgiveness does not come by justifying our own anger or actions, but by confessing what is in our hearts. God says though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as white as snow when we come to Him openly. If we acknowledge our transgression, including the bitterness and hatred that can grow when we are wronged, He is faithful to deal with it and to cleanse us.
So the right way to bring this burden to God is to leave justice in His hands and to ask Him to work in His way and time. You can pray honestly about the wrong you have suffered, ask for His protection and provision, ask Him to stop the evil being done, and trust Him as the righteous judge who will repay. You can also pray for your own heart to be kept from hatred, and even pray for the salvation of those who have harmed you, that they would come to repentance and know the forgiveness that is offered through Jesus Christ alone.
A prayer in line with Scripture would be, Lord, You see what has been done and You know the loss and fear it has caused. I bring these people who have harmed me before You and leave them in Your hands. You are the judge of all the earth and vengeance belongs to You. Do what is just and right according to Your truth. Guard my heart from bitterness and from seeking revenge myself. Forgive me where I have harbored hatred, and cleanse me through Jesus. Deliver me from trouble, provide for what has been taken and broken, give me peace, and if it is Your will, bring those who do evil to repentance and salvation. I trust Your mercy and Your justice. In Jesus name, amen.
If theft and destruction have occurred, it is also wise to seek lawful help where you can, to report what has happened and to take practical steps for safety, while continuing to entrust your heart and your future to the Lord who promises it shall be well with those who walk in righteousness and who will let you eat the fruit of faithful obedience in His time.
