It’s one thing to give grace to friends, but to give grace to those who give us grief? Most of us find it hard to forgive.

Leave your enemies in God’s hands. You’re not endorsing their misbehavior when you do. You can hate what someone did without letting hatred consume you. Forgiveness is not excusing. Give grace, but if need be, keep your distance. You can forgive the abusive husband without living with him. Be quick to give mercy to the immoral pastor, but be slow to give him a pulpit. Society can dispense grace and prison terms at the same time.

To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore. You don’t excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route your thoughts about them through heaven. In Romans 12:19 (MSG) God says, “I will take care of it.” Let him.

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Forgiveness is not foolishness. Forgiveness, at its core, is choosing to see your offender with different eyes.

By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less? Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it? This is a huge issue in Scripture. Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners. Remember his story in Matthew 18 about the servant, freshly forgiven a debt of millions, who refused to forgive a debt equal to a few dollars? He stirred the wrath of God: “You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt. Shouldn’t you have mercy just as I had mercy on you?” (Matthew 18:32-33 NLT).

In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace. And we’ve been given grace, so we can freely give it. See your enemies as God’s child and revenge as God’s job.

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God occupies the only seat on the supreme court of heaven. He wears the robe and refuses to share the gavel.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:19 (MSG), “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’” Vigilantes displace and replace God. “I’m not sure you can handle this one, Lord. You may punish too little or too slowly. I’ll take this into my hands, thank you.” Is this what you want to say?

Jesus didn’t. No one had a clearer sense of right and wrong than the perfect Son of God. In 1 Peter 2:23 (GW) we’re reminded that “when he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly.” Only God assesses accurate judgments. Perfect justice. Vengeance is his job! Leave your enemies in God’s hands.

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Some years ago a Rottweiler attacked our golden retriever puppy at a kennel. The animal climbed out of its run and into Molly’s and nearly killed her. I wrote a letter to the dog’s owner, urging him to put the dog to sleep. But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner, she begged me to reconsider. “What the dog did was horrible, but I’m still training him. I’m not finished with him yet.”

God would say the same about the Rottweiler who attacked you. “What he did was unacceptable, inexcusable, but I’m not finished yet.” Your enemies still figure into God’s plan. Their pulse is proof. God hasn’t given up on them. They may be out of his will, but not out of his reach. And you honor God when you see them not as his failures, but as his projects.

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Refuge is a favorite word of David’s. You’ll count as many as forty-plus appearances in some Bible versions. But never did David use the word more poignantly than in Psalm 57. The introduction to the passage explains its background: “A song of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.”

Lost in shadows and thought, he has nowhere to turn. Go home, he endangers his family; to the tabernacle, he imperils the priests. Saul will kill him. Here he sits, all alone. But then he remembers he’s not. And from the recesses of the cave a sweet voice floats. “Be merciful to me, O God! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I make my refuge.”

Make God your refuge. Let him be the foundation on which you stand!

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I spent too much of a high school summer working in the oid field. We donned gas masks, waded into ankle deep, contaminated mire. My mom burned my work clothes. The stink stuck!

Yours can do the same. Linger too long in the stench of your hurt, and you’ll smell like the toxin you despise. The better option?  Join with David as he announces, “The Lord lives. Blessed be my Rock…It is God who avenges me…He delivers me from my enemies…Therefore, I will give thanks to You, O Lord” (Psalm 18:46-49 NKJV).

Wander daily through the gallery of God’s goodness. Catalog his kindnesses. Look at what you have. Let Jesus be the friend you need. Talk to him. Spare no details. Disclose your fear, describe your dread. You just found a friend for life in Jesus Christ. What could be better than that?

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1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV) says, “…man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Those words were written for misfits and outcasts. God uses them all. Moses ran from justice, but God used him. Jonah ran from God, but God used him. Rahab ran a brothel, Sarah ran out of hope, Lot ran with the wrong crowd, but God used them all. And David? Human eyes saw a gangly teenager, smelling like sheep. Yet the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is the one!” (1 Samuel 16:12 NKJV).

God saw what no one else saw: a God-seeking heart. David took after God’s heart, because he stayed after God’s heart. And in the end, that’s all God wants or needs. Others measure your waist size or wallet. Not God. He examines hearts. And when he finds one set on him, he calls it and claims it.

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Giants. We must face them, yet we need not face them alone. Focus first, and most, on God.

Read 1 Samuel 17 and list the observations David made about Goliath. I find only two. One to Saul and one to Goliath’s face. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David asks nothing about Goliath’s skill, age, or the weight of the spear, or the size of the shield. But he gives much thought to God—”the armies of the living God; the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” In all, the God-thoughts outnumber Goliath-thoughts nine to two.

Is your list of blessings four times as long as your list of complaints? Are you four times as likely to describe the strength of God as you are the demands of your day? That’s how you face a giant.

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You could read David’s story in the Bible and wonder what God saw in him. He fell as often as he stood, stumbled as often as he conquered. Yet for those who know the sound of a Goliath, David gives us this reminder: Focus on giants. you stumble. Focus on God, your giants tumble.

You know a Goliath. You recognize his walk, his talk. David saw a Goliath, yet he heard more. David showed up and raised the subject of the living God. He saw the giant, mind you; he just saw God more so. Listen carefully to David’s battle cry: “You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (1 Samuel 17:45 NKJV).

Lift your eyes, giant-slayer! The God who made a miracle out of David stands ready to make one out of you.

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See the cross on the hill? Can you hear the soldiers pound the nails? Jesus’ enemies smirk. “This time,” Satan whispers, “this time I will win.” For a sad Friday and a silent Saturday, it appeared he had. What Satan intended as the ultimate evil, God used for the ultimate good. God rolled the rock away, and Jesus walked out on Sunday morning. If you look closely, you can see Satan scampering from the cemetery with his forked tail between his legs. “Will I ever win?” he grumbles. No, he won’t.

Do you believe no evil is beyond God’s reach? That he can redeem every pit, including one in which you find yourself? Trust God. He’ll get you through this. Will it be easy or quick? I hope so, but it seldom is. Yet God will make good out of this mess. That’s his job.

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