“Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.” -Eze 25:15-17 KJVR
Pertaining to the Philistine’s motives, they had an old grudge which went back to the time of the judges… they had spite and malice in their hearts which was strengthened by the overpowering of their army by the Israelite boy, David, and they wanted an opportunity to vent it. They were determined to take vengeance when they could, which eventually they did with a perpetual hatred in a spiteful and malicious way, to perpetuate the hatred between them and Israel. Now, many of us deny that we are driven by hatred or that we act out of spite, even though our actions and true motives illustrate that we do. We may or may not seek to destroy anyone, but we definitely seek to perpetuate conflict between ourselves and others… we definitely continue to react with malice, using every opportunity that arises to vent our anger and frustration.
Like the Philistines, we strike back rather than behaving and reacting in a manner which would be pleasing to God. The Philistines could not see past the offenses they perceived against them from many, many years before; therefore, they decided to use that anger and bitterness to fuel the fire. What they didn’t consider was the fact that they offended God by taking revenge against their brothers, lashing out and perpetuating the spirit of confrontation and conflict without a thought for resolution or unification, thus incurring His wrath. In their natural minds, they could see no such scenario; they only saw separation and sought to conquer the nation.
How many of us today have this same mentality? We hold grudges about the past and allow our emotions – anger, grief, sorrow, embarrassment, pain, envy, pride – to distance us from our brothers and sisters; then we convince ourselves that we were led by God, or that our actions are justified by the circumstances. If anything is done out of spite, anger, or is motivated by something in the past, it has no place in God and God has no place in it. Until we accept that it is not our place to seek vengeance, nothing will change. Spite has no place in God’s house and a spiteful heart is not led by Him.
Praise God. Let us all “become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving [our] own selves.” -James 1:22 (MKJV) What are the motives of your heart?
* Written by Kathleen Robertson March 26, 2008
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