Imagine (Psalm 129:1-4)

Imagine how many people have treated you wrongfully because of your spiritual beliefs or disposition.  People who would not forgive you, who hold back from helping you, deny you an opportunity for advancement at work, talked about you, plot against you or maybe just don't like you all because you are a Christian.  Now imagine what life would be like if God executed immediate vengeance upon those individuals.  Maybe not kill them, but bring negative circumstances in their lives for how they have treated you.  What would your life be like?  Some may think, "Life would be awesome!"  But would it really be?  It may seem that life would be good because of God's intervention in our lives, but we could also begin to feel invincible.  When anything would go wrong, look out because God will be on the move.  Life would quickly deteriorate into a selfish existence.  Instead of God protecting us from what he doesn't like, we would begin to think God should protect us from what we don't like.

Imagine further now, that God would also take vengeance on you for each and every wrong doing that you do towards others.  Life wouldn't be too happy would it?  Throughout every day, God would be zapping you and everyone else for your wrong doings.  Behaviors wouldn't change because we daily live with our sin natures and regardless of how much we try not to, we would still do wrong.  Each of us would walk in fear for the next big whack from Heaven.  Doesn't sound too promising does it?

Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. (Psalms 129:1-4)

What God does instead of working against those who do us wrongfully, is to works for us.  Sinners will do their wrong, but God will hinder or cut back what they try to do to is.  He will keep them from being successful at destroying us.  In other words, their hypothetical whip of anger will have the cords cut short.  Oh it will still hurt, but we will not be destroyed.  Paul understood this when he said, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

God is always righteous and because of that his works towards us and for us will always be righteous.  There will come a day when he will righteously execute complete vengeance upon sin, but for now his righteousness works in a different way.  People will continue to hate, kill and oppress others, but we must remember in the midst of it all that we have a righteous God supporting us and cutting back the cords of the wicked.