Wait for the Lord and He Will Avenge You: What Proverbs 20:22 Really Means

Somebody is going to do wrong by us. That is life. It might be a coworker, a friend, family, somebody you trusted. And when it happens, the first thing that rises up in most of us is the urge to even the score.

Proverbs 20:22 speaks straight to that moment. "Do not say, 'I'll pay you back for this wrong!' Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you."

For a long time I read that verse one way. I thought it meant hold your peace, stay out of it, and God will handle them. His payback is bigger than anything I could come up with on my own, so let Him deliver it.

Then I looked at the original word, and it changed how I read the whole verse.

The Hebrew word translated "avenge" in the NIV is yasha. It means to save. To deliver. To rescue. It is the same root that gives us the name Yeshua, which is Jesus. So when Proverbs 20:22 says wait for the Lord and he will avenge you, the original language is saying wait for the Lord and he will deliver YOU.

Read that again. The promise in this verse is about what God is going to do for you, before it is ever about what He does to them.

That matters because of where revenge actually lives. When somebody wrongs us and we hold onto it, we end up doing time for their crime. We replay it. We rehearse what we should have said. We watch their life waiting for the fall. Offense becomes the place we live, and that place has no peace in it.

God knows that. So His answer to the person who hurt you starts with rescuing you out of that place.

The word translated "wait" is worth knowing too. In Hebrew it is qavah, and it comes from the word for a cord. The picture is a rope pulled tight, stretched toward what you are hoping for. Waiting on the Lord is active, expectant trust. You are anchored, and you are positioned for what He is about to do.

Put those two words together and the verse opens up. Release the payback. Anchor yourself to God with expectation, and He will rescue you from the weight of what they did.

Does God still deal with the wrong? Yes. Romans 12:19 says it plainly: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. Justice belongs to Him, and His justice is perfect because He sees everything we cannot. What is coming will come in His time. But notice He never invites us to watch for it or celebrate it. He invites us to hand it over and walk free.

That is why forgiveness belongs in this conversation. Forgiveness is you taking your hands off the case and handing it to the Judge. It releases you to move on with your life while God handles what only He can handle.

If you are in that place right now, here is a place to start. Tell God the truth about what they did and how it felt. Ask Him to take the case. Then every time the replay starts, hand it back. That is qavah in real life. You are choosing the anchor over the loop.

Somebody is going to do wrong by us. That is a given. Living in offense is a choice. Turn it over to Him, forgive that person, and let yasha do what yasha means. God is settling more than your score. He is setting you free.

Peace, Love and Joy always,
Tanya

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