The moment someone hurts or wrongs you is the moment you have to decide who’s going to handle it - you or God. Scripture never asks you to minimize pain or to call wrongdoings as okay. What it does teach is where to take it.

In Romans 12:19, Paul wrote, “Never avenge yourselves… for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” That isn’t God overlooking what happened - it’s God taking full responsibility for justice in a way you never could. When you hold on to revenge, you’re trying to carry something that was never yours to manage to begin with.

Jesus took it even further in Matthew 5. He didn't just call us away from retaliation after hurt - He called us into a completely different posture: to pray for those who hurt us. Not because they deserve it, but because it keeps your heart from being shaped by what they did. Bitterness feels justified in the moment, but over time it quietly reshapes you. Forgiveness doesn’t excuse the wrong - it releases your right to personally settle the score.

Look at the cross. Jesus was betrayed, falsely accused, beaten, and crucified - and still He said, “Father, forgive them.” This was complete trust in the Father’s justice. He knew that God sees everything, weighs everything, and would make all things right.

When you take your pain to God, it’s an act of faith. It’s saying, “I trust You to handle this better than I ever could.” In that surrender, something shifts - not just in the situation, but in you. Peace begins to take the place of what once felt heavy, and your heart becomes free instead of hardened.


By David Delfield
"I Am With You Always"