Article September 4, 1989 Issue

What we can do when we are wronged

Revenge is a dead end, which can never advance us. When we are wronged, God is at hand to lift us higher.

Margaret Seymour

How often the words "I'll get you!" have been followed by violence, even murder. Yet violent retaliation has never brought with it any real, lasting satisfaction but only sorrow and suffering.

The Bible tells us of a young man, jealous of his brother's achievements, who sought to get even with him for an imagined injustice. When he met his brother in the fields, he killed him. The two brothers were, of course, Cain and Abel, and the story can be read in Genesis, chapter 4.

Reading through the story, we find that the two brothers both brought an offering to the Lord. Cain worked the lands, so his offering was "of the fruit of the ground." Abel was a shepherd, so he brought a lamb as an offering. The story tells us that "the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect."^{See Gen. 4:3–5.}

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

"The weapons of our warfare"