Psalm 60:12 is a key Scripture for a man of God to internalize. Through God we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.
Men of God don't react out of flesh and temper. They realize that God has their back, and they focus on living right, and doing the right thing, righteousness.
Men of God don't take revenge. They learn to say nothing, and do nothing, when confronted with situations where they are being persecuted and you have done nothing wrong. Rom 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
When you get in the flesh and react to something that set you off, you have short circuited the Will of God. Instead of Him taking revenge, you receive the natural consequences of being angry. If you control yourself, and don't react out of anger, God has obligated Himself by His Word to take revenge.
I recently described a situation where God had dealt with some people who insulted our Christian Motorcycle Club the club. I received a phone call from a man who asked me in a very belligerent tone "what makes you think God would do that for you?" The simple answer is the Bible! And He just doesn't do it for me, He will do it for anyone who sets their steps according to the Word of God.
Now none of this is to say that you don't have the right to self-defense, or that you should let people walk all over you. Protecting yourself from harm is always reasonable, and can be justified from the scripture. Going back later and exacting revenge is different. If you turn it over to God, with patience you will always see Him act. Unfortunately, we typically let our flesh get the best of us, and we do something stupid and pay the consequences for it.
And if we're not doing something stupid, we are THINKING something stupid! Writhing around in anger in our minds, not turning it over to God, not allowing Him to act, not operating in forgiveness, not releasing the situation. Hating, hurting, mentally killing them in our minds.
Release it to God! They will get theirs! Call it karma, call it reaping what you sow, God is not ignoring your hurt if you are walking in righteousness! When things start going wrong in their lives, God is able to remind them of what they did to you. He is able to remind them to come back and apologize to you. It's happened many times to me that something I released, brought that person back humbly asking for forgiveness.
As Paul writes, leave room for the wrath of God! He is always better at getting revenge than we are.
