Anger is a letter short of danger. Danger and anger are closely connected and are working together. Wrath is then a senior officer to anger; more fierce and violent. The Scriptures then is right to reveal that the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.

Anytime you are wronged, the tendency is high that you will want to take your pound of flesh from the wrongdoer(s) to prove a point. However, dangers are involved in taking law into your hands.

Let us examine a few of them.
1. You will log horns with your Maker, God.
How? Revenge amounts to an attempt to usurp God’s exclusive right and responsibility. It means you want to take over God’s assignment from Him. The Scriptures reveals,
“Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand;
and their doom comes swiftly.” Deuteronomy 32:35. Revised Standard Version.

These are words from your Maker. He knows His tasks and will never fail to perform them. Do you think He will cuddle you for snatching His duties from Him? Instead, you will magnetise His anger. So eschew revenge.

2. Negligence of duties.
This is very clear and understandable. If you do another person’s work, your own assignments will suffer. This is settled. What are your duties when you are wronged? Let me mention two of them.
a. Forgive. You need to do everything to forgive the wrongdoer. It is understandable that sometimes it may seem very difficult to do but this is what is expected of you by your Creator. Should you disappoint Him? God forbid! If you forgive your wrongdoer, you have already provided yourself a bridge that you will pass through one day, whether in this life or life after. A part of the Lord’s prayer reads,
“And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.”(Matthew 6:12)

How often should you do this? Jesus counsels,
“Seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22,)
Go and do this. Or do you want to forfeit all benefits attached to this?

B. It is also your duty to trust in the Lord your God to take appropriate steps at the right time, place and form. He never fails. So trusting in Him to take vengeance on those who have done you wrong is your duty. Therefore, go and do it.

3. You will miss the rewards attached to performing your task. Each commandment of the Lord has its benefits. Great benefits indeed; do not lose them. No work, no pay. This is a simple principle. Anyone who fails to carry out his work has no rewards.

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.” Psalm 37:3. Revised Standard Version.
Trust in the Lord to plead your course.

4. You can be guilty of blood. In your attempt to take your pound of flesh, you may shed innocent blood. Those who are very close to the wrongdoer may lose their lives in the process. Not only this, the wrongdoer may not be guilty of death but in wrath, you may kill him ending in “killing for wounding”. You can read my article with the words in brackets at http://www.faithwriters.com.

Even if he is guilty of death, you should not take law into your hand. David almost made this mistake. His complaint was
“Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow(Nabal) hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.” I Samuel 25:21, King James Version.

Do you know that there is a divine provision for those who reward evil for good? Proverbs 17:13 reveals
“Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.”

This divine provision should satisfy you, I think.

The Lord sent Abigail, the wife of the evil doer, to restrain David from shedding blood. Innocent blood would have been destroyed with the offender because the plan of David was to kill every man in Nabal’s household. Read I Samuel 25:22-26.

5. Perpetual grief. Do you know that in an attempt to revenge, you may sow a seed of everlasting sorrow that anytime you remember it, grief will grip your heart? Is there any need for you to bear grief forever?

Abigail warned David,
“And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel;
That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself :..” I Samuel 25-30-31.

As a result of the dangers mentioned above, do not engage in any revenge. Perform your task and you will have peace and be rewarded now and in eternity.
Stay blessed and rapturable because the Lord is coming soon.

Do you know that you cannot manage your home successfully on do-me-I-do-you (self-revenge) basis? Anytime you purpose to take vengeance, it will always be disproportionate, especially if you are “rich” in anger.

I call this “Killing For Wounding?”

The statement of Apostle James in chapter 1:20 is entirely right. It reads:
“So then, beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Wrath destroys! It is a senior officer to anger. Note that anger itself is a letter “d” short of danger. So, anger and wrath are enemies of anything good.

It is not good at all to make a final decision, especially when it is negative, when you are angry. I don’t even know how easy or possible it is to make a good and positive decision when you are angry.

In Ephesians 4:26, every believer is exhorted to be angry with a strict condition that before sunset, it must evaporate. That is God’s standard for His people.

Even you must control it efficiently within its short period of its allowed existence. Otherwise, you can say or do foolish things you will live to regret for the rest of your live.

Never become a fool, don’t allow your emotion of anger to control you.

If anger is dangerous, wrath is more! It inflates every event that happens. It blows things out of proportions. It leads to award of awkward penalties not commensurate with what happened. The penalty is always more than the offence.

The initiator of murder in the Holy Bible, Cain, killed his brother, Abel, out of sheer envy. Why? God accepted the latter and his offering but rejected the former and his offering.

Anger set in. It grew into wrath which caused murder. Abel was killed for an act he did not author. Cain ought to have ironed things out with his Maker but he did not! He passed the bulk on innocent and righteous Abel. So the Lord avenged him.

“Then Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I am killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.’ ” Genesis 4:23.

Killing for wounding!

Whether a man is innocent or has commited an offence, self-revenge in wrath is not the solution.

Lamech did not show an evidence that the young man attempted to kill him so in an attempt to defend himself that fellow was killed.

He leaves no one in doubt as to what happened: the young man wounded him intentionally or otherwise.
Killing was greater than wounding.

He also disclosed that the young man hurt him. The wounding and hurting could be physical, emotional or otherwise but Lamech failed to rule over his spirit. Therefore, his feelings of wrath pushed him to commit murder in return.

He knew the implications and consequences of his action very late. Verse 24 discloses,
“If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold,
Then Lamech seventy-seven fold.”

Did Lamech remember this before the killing? No! After his sense of reason returned from the prison of wrath, he realised that there are penalties to pay for his misdeeds.

Dearly beloved reader, have you been wounded in the past or recently? Vengeance belongs to God! He will recompense in His way and time.
Leave everything in the hand of God. He knows what to do. Be at peace with your God and yourself.

Do not engage in self-revenge because it will be out of proportions.and you will also pay for your misdeeds. Be wise, leave everything in the hand of the Lord to plead your cause.
Do not be angry, do not sin; never display wrath.
Stay blessed and rapturable, the Lord is coming soon.
NOTE.
Scriptures quotations are from New King James Version.