Today, I’d like to share about a topic that is seldom discussed among us. In fact, many believe that, because of the Lord’s grace, it shouldn’t even be mentioned. I want to talk about the Lord’s reckoning.
Indeed, we know Him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again: “The Lord will judge His people.” Hb. 10:30
God’s word is very clear when it says that the Lord is the avenger, the one who repays. The Lord is gracious, but He is never neutral. God always takes a stand and, in His time, delivers justice.
The Apostle Paul gives a very stern warning to those who defraud their brethren in sexual matters, for example. He says God is the avenger.
“Each of you should know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and in this matter, no one should wrong or defraud a brother or sister. For the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.” I Th. 4:4-6
This was said by the apostle of grace. He’s not saying that the one who falls into sin will suffer God’s wrath. He just says that God is never neutral. If two children come before Him with a dispute, He will judge the matter. He never stays neutral. And if someone defrauds his brother in this sexual matter, he will suffer the discipline of the Father.
If one takes his brother’s wife or if one takes advantage of a sister with flattering words with the intention of seducing and deceiving her, the Lord will avenge. Never treat sin lightly, especially sexual sin. For the one who commits sexual sin sins against their own body.
Reject the spirit of vengeance
But sexual sin is just one of many situations. We all have to deal with unjust situations and people who harm us. We all inevitably face others’ bitter envy; there will be those who speak ill of us, betray us in business, and promises made to us will be broken.
The other day, a brother told me that a colleague spread lies and slander about him at work. Because of this, he lost a promotion. It’s tough when someone puts us at a disadvantage and harms us. He said he was giving his best at work, but in the end, instead of being promoted, he almost got fired. In such moments, you need to know that the Lord is the avenger. He is just and will compensate you for all your loss. The Lord says in Hebrews 10:30 that the day of reckoning will come.
The Lord sees exactly what you’re going through. The man who abandoned you and left you to raise the children alone. The Lord saw how many times he betrayed you until your marriage crumbled. Of course, the Lord knows how people tried to manipulate and take advantage of you. People were dishonest and took what should’ve been yours. Don’t worry. The Lord’s word for you is: “I will restore you! I will compensate for all your loss!”
But remember something very important. You don’t have to take revenge, nor be filled with a spirit of self-righteousness. The Most High God will settle your account. When you try to avenge yourself and become filled with self-pity, you step out of God’s favor. Stay in a position of favor. Leave everything in the hands of Him who judges rightly.
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rm. 12:19-21
Others don’t determine your attitude and behavior. We don’t overcome evil with greater evil but overcome evil with good.
People might have harmed your reputation, spread lies and slander about you, and it seems like you’re at a loss. But don’t be discouraged. Keep trusting in God’s care. Your time is coming. God won’t let you remain in deficit; he won’t let you be downtrodden, maltreated, and at a loss. The day of reckoning is coming. The Lord is a just God. You don’t need to take revenge on anyone; He will do it for you.
It’s possible you didn’t have a good childhood. You suffered abuse, mistreatment, rejection, and abandonment. But the time is coming when God will come to settle the scores. And He will bring honor to your life, and you will be elevated to a much higher position.
The Payroll of Heaven
The word of God says that Jacob fell in love with a young woman named Rachel, who was the daughter of his uncle Laban. Laban promised that if Jacob worked for him for seven years, he could have Rachel as his wife. For seven years, Jacob worked hard and gave his best. Because of Jacob, Laban prospered greatly, and his flocks multiplied (Genesis 30:27). After seven years, Jacob was finally going to marry Rachel.
In those days, women wore a thick veil on their wedding day. After the grand celebration with feasting and dancing, Jacob went to his tent with his wife. The next morning, when he woke up, he leaned over to kiss his bride, but to his shock, it wasn’t Rachel; it was her sister Leah.
Jacob was stunned. He rushed to Laban and exclaimed, “What are you doing, trying to deceive me? I didn’t agree to marry Leah; the deal was for me to marry Rachel.” Laban replied, “I know, Jacob, but we have a tradition here that the older daughter must marry first. Work for me another seven years, and then you can have Rachel.” Laban was dishonest and manipulative. Jacob did the right thing, honoring his part of the agreement, but Laban deceived him. However, Jacob was so in love with Rachel that he agreed to work another seven years. In the end, he married Rachel.
After these years, Jacob told Laban he wanted to return to his homeland. But Laban didn’t want him to go. He said, “Jacob, the Lord has blessed me because of you.” He recognized that God’s favor on Jacob made him so prosperous. But Laban had no intention of blessing Jacob or giving him anything in return.
Jacob desired prosperity, so he made a proposal: “I will work for you, and as my payment, let me keep all the new speckled and spotted goats and all the black sheep. You can keep all the solid-colored animals. This way, there won’t be any doubt about what belongs to me.”
Laban agreed, but in his pettiness, he had his workers sneak out during the night to take all the striped and spotted male animals and give them to his sons.
But the day of reckoning had come for Jacob. When the solid-colored animals bred, they produced speckled and spotted offspring. This defied logic but continued until Jacob’s flocks were larger than Laban’s. Confused, Laban said to Jacob, “I’ve changed my mind. From now on, I’ll keep the spotted and speckled animals, and you can have the colored ones.” Do you know what happened? All the animals born were solid-colored. God knows how to settle scores. He knows how to restore what rightfully belongs to someone.
Deceivers can’t resist God. Manipulators won’t get the best of you. Don’t fret; you’re on heaven’s payroll. God knows what you’re owed, and He knows how to compensate you for the losses others caused. He will favor you, even when people try to keep blessings from you. Don’t lose sleep over those trying to harm you. When God comes to restore and settle the score, the blessing will be astonishing, just like it was with Jacob.
Most importantly, don’t let bitterness enter your heart. If you read closely, you’ll see that God didn’t send fire from heaven upon Laban or bring a plague upon his flocks. Laban continued being his deceptive self. God’s justice isn’t about punishing others but compensating and restoring you.
God is just. He saw that Jacob was being wronged. Jacob was doing the right thing but wasn’t being treated fairly. He worked hard but wasn’t receiving what was agreed upon. God doesn’t ignore this. In Genesis 31:12, the Lord told Jacob, “I see everything Laban is doing to you.” Believe that God is watching over you and, at the right time, He will settle accounts.
Stay on the right path, keep doing your best, because the time will come when you’ll see blessings you can’t explain, promotions you couldn’t earn. God will compensate you for how you’ve been treated, restoring what should’ve been yours.
In Genesis 31:41, we learn that Laban changed Jacob’s wages ten times. Consider how unfair this was. Jacob made Laban incredibly wealthy. Without Jacob, Laban would’ve never prospered. Instead of blessing Jacob and promoting him, he kept demoting him, decreasing his wages. Jacob states in the following verse (Genesis 31:42) that if not for God’s grace, Laban would’ve sent him away empty-handed.
God saw all this injustice and how Jacob kept passing the test by choosing the right path. In the end, Jacob ended up with more flocks than Laban. The blessing on his life caused him to prosper suddenly. What was that? It was the time of vengeance. Genesis 31:1 tells us that what belonged to Laban was being transferred to Jacob. This is the day of reckoning.
Don’t be discouraged by perceived losses or deceit. When the time of reckoning comes, you’ll experience sudden blessings, unusual growth, and extraordinary favor. God knows all you’ve lost, and He’s accumulating your blessing. When He releases it, it will catapult you forward.
But here’s a spiritual key: Don’t expect people to compensate you, look to God. The person who hurt you, the friend who wronged you, the company that denied your rights – you have to pass the test of vengeance and self-righteousness. Don’t seek revenge; that will only delay God’s blessing on you. Let God handle it.
The Lord didn’t promise that people will repay; He promised He would repay, restore, and compensate. So, take your eyes off those who hurt you, stop losing sleep over their actions, and start thanking God because He’s coming to settle your accounts, restoring exactly what’s owed. If you’ve been deceived and exploited like Jacob, keep doing the right thing, maintain a good attitude, and have a humble heart before God. Then, when the Lord reaches out, you won’t just be recognized, but you’ll also be promoted, honored, and blessed to a new level.
If you don’t believe God will settle your accounts, you’ll become frustrated and vengeful, filled with bitterness and self-pity. Let God restore. He sees everything. That’s why He told Jacob, “I’ve seen all that Laban has done to you.” This small statement could’ve been left out of scripture, but God recorded it to show us He sees when people take advantage of us. If you stay in faith and honor Him, a time will come when He’ll not only vindicate you but also honor you in front of those who resisted you.
Psalm 23:5 says that the Lord prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. So when someone treats you as an enemy, God sets up a table for you. Instead of retaliating, just sit down and relax. Be at peace and let the Lord handle the situation. Trust that God is just and will return everything that’s been taken from you.
Do not try to overcome evil with another evil. Do not stoop to their level by being dishonest and manipulating things, stay on the right path and let God vindicate you.
The Day of Restitution
The day of reckoning is closer than you think. Do not grow weary of doing the right thing, of doing good, for in due time the reward will come. The unfair situation, the disloyalty, the lies, and the slander did not go unnoticed. God saw your innocence and is now about to settle the score.
The word of God says that the Israelites lived 430 years in Egypt. It seems that for over two hundred years they lived as slaves. They were mistreated, forced to work long hours without breaks, with impossible targets to meet. It seemed like that was their fate.
After so many years, I am sure many resigned themselves and assumed that God had forgotten about them. Generation after generation of suffering, struggle, and deprivation. But the truth is that God will not allow people to mistreat and indefinitely take advantage of you. He said in Exodus 3: And the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sorrows; therefore, I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey; the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. For the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.” Ex. 3:7-9
I believe that God keeps a record of everything owed to you, everything that should have been yours but was denied. That’s why the people did not leave Egypt empty-handed, but God gave them favor in the eyes of their oppressors, and they gave them their gold, their jewelry, and their clothes.
Think about how astonishing this was, the people who had oppressed them all those years were now giving them their valuable possessions. What was this? God was restoring the years of slavery and oppression. The scripture says that God brought his people out with silver and gold, and among his tribes, there was not one who stumbled (Ps. 105:37).
For years they were burdened with heavy loads, pressure, and discouragement, but when God settled their account, they were loaded with gifts, loaded with joy, loaded with blessings.
You may have gone through unfair situations, and it seems like loneliness and depression are your destiny. But that is not true. God will not leave you at a loss.
It’s true there are times of trials where we are tested, but that’s not how your story ends. Payday is coming. You will be filled with abundance. Filled with strength, health, and vitality. Everything that was stolen, God will restore: the joy, the peace, the health, the finances, the dreams. He will restore the childhood you never had. He will pay for that person who falsely accused and publicly slandered you. He will vindicate the years you lost in an abusive relationship and the marital betrayal that seemed to end your life.
Taste of Honey Now, instead of focusing on who wronged you, set your eyes on the Lord. Believe that He will reward you for your innocence. Things were meant for your harm, but God will turn everything for your good.
Don’t have a victim mentality, nor a vengeful one. Instead of shame, the Lord will give you double honor. Instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace, you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours. Is. 61:7
Others cannot stop God’s purpose for you unless you let them. If you become bitter, full of grudge and anger, you will lose the double honor.
I never tire of reflecting on Joseph’s story. He went through many situations that could have paralyzed him; he was betrayed by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold as a slave, falsely accused of sexual harassment, and unjustly imprisoned.
While in prison, Joseph interpreted a dream for another inmate, the Pharaoh’s former cupbearer. All Joseph asked in return was for the cupbearer to remember him when he got out. The cupbearer agreed, but when he was released, he completely forgot about Joseph. Two years passed, and nothing. Perhaps the cupbearer was not a bad person and was just too busy with work.
We all have to deal with broken promises, with people who don’t keep their word. We were counting on them, but they forgot us. But broken promises from men are not forgotten by God.
It seemed like Joseph would end up losing due to all those injustices: betrayal, rejection, lies, and broken promises. But the truth is that people cannot prevent God’s purpose. If your boss could stop God’s plan, he would be more powerful than God. Nothing and no one can stop what God has in store for you.
After 13 years, all odds were against Joseph, but one day Pharaoh sent for him to interpret his dream. It was sudden. He woke up in the morning in jail and went to sleep at night in the official residence of the Prime Minister.
What happened? God settled the score. Once again, I want to remind you that God did nothing to Joseph’s brothers or those who harmed him in any way. God’s reckoning is your restitution. Do not waste time wishing God to harm others. It’s always tempting to rely on your own justice and merit and ask God to rain down fire from heaven on that evil boss. That’s not the reckoning.
I like that Pentecostal song called “Taste of Honey.” I like to think that the end of the story has a taste of honey. The day of reckoning will come, and all who lied, slandered, and mocked will have to recognize God’s favor upon you. You will be on stage, and they will be the audience.
The temptation in the midst of the trial is to lose passion and give up on your dreams. But don’t stop! God hasn’t forgotten you. The reckoning will be sudden. Suddenly you’ll be promoted, suddenly you’ll meet the right person, suddenly those trying to pull you down will be removed from your path. You will be elevated where you couldn’t go alone. This is the power of the Most High settling your account.
After years of dating, your fiancé left you. After decades of marriage, your husband left you. Be at peace, for your time is coming. God will compensate for everything you lost. What belongs to you is on its way. You don’t have to chase the blessing, but the blessing will chase after you. The day of retribution has come! The end of the story has a taste of honey.
