God never punishes sinners directly, yet sometimes its effects can feel like punishment: guilt can be particularly painful and heartbreak can also feel like punishment.
Resolving differences can be natural, yet that does not equal seeking revenge. Learning to bless those who harm us may be challenging but ultimately leads to more love than anger.
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1. You feel guilty
Whenever someone injures you, it can be easy to feel guilty. After all, harming others is wrong. Sometimes this feeling of guilt becomes so intense that you believe God is punishing you with hard losses, painful emotions or terrible situations – and even depression and loneliness as punishments from Him. But these feelings should never be used as reliable indicators of reality.
One effective way of knowing if you’re being punished is to ask yourself this question: “Am I experiencing difficult losses, painful emotions, terrible situations or depression due to my sin?” If that is indeed the case for you, then your poor choices have likely contributed to this pain; otherwise it might just be part of being human in this broken world.
Paying the Price for Bad Decisions The second way you can tell whether or not God is punishing you is through paying the consequences for bad choices made. He loves us all equally, so He will not allow sin to go unpunished; whether that means killing someone while driving drunk, lying to your parents, or cheating on your spouse; all sin has consequences and cannot go unpunished.
Keep in mind that someone who truly regrets harming you won’t ask for your forgiveness or expect it. They might not even want you to listen. However, if they appear sincere in trying to improve their behavior and become better people it could be due to God’s discipline on them.
Finally, when someone feels guilty they won’t lash back out with violence; rather they will acknowledge their error and work to rectify it – similar to how God disciplined His son Jesus.
The Bible states that those who sin against God will be punished with everlasting destruction, expelled from His presence forever, which can be terrifying to contemplate. When considering revenge against someone, remember they may not even realize their wrongdoing has hurt you as much as it has.
2. You suffer from the consequence of what you did
As is often the case, our sins often come with consequences that must be endured. Jonah committed one such transgression when he disobeyed God by refusing to board the boat to Nineveh as instructed, which caused much heartache among both himself and those traveling alongside him.
God is a just and fair judge, punishing those who do wrong with everlasting destruction. According to scripture, people who commit acts of evil will be cut off from accessing his presence forever; should this happen to you it could become nearly impossible to find love or hope because there will no longer be anyone willing to love you back.
When someone hurts us, our instinctive reaction may be to lash back out with violence. While revenge might provide temporary satisfaction, the Bible advises against this as it can lead to depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. Instead of exacting revenge upon those who have wronged you, ask God for forgiveness and focus instead on serving Him instead.
Sometimes those closest to us can make our lives unbearable, and it can be very hard to understand why this happens – especially when those involved are Christians who should be supportive and loving. You must remember that God did not cause these people to hurt you – they did so on their own accord, with only His approval allowing this action by them.
If you are struggling with feelings of anger and resentment towards those who have wronged you, writing down everything they have done to hurt you may help ease those emotions. After writing them out, praying aloud about each item can also be very therapeutic and cleansing; and can show that those responsible do not merit our resentment and anger. If they continue causing problems for you then maybe speaking directly with them about their actions might help find solutions together.
4. You feel like you’re being punished
IF it seems as though God is punishing you for something you did, this could be a telltale sign of not repenting of sins you committed. For instance, this could happen if your actions led to hurtful interactions or the breakdown of relationships – God hates when people hurt others so He seeks to correct these actions by teaching a lesson through them. Or it could happen if your attempt at revenge backfired against someone.
God doesn’t cause financial difficulties or death; these events simply serve as signs that your beliefs or actions were incorrect, so the discomfort you are feeling should encourage you to seek Him and repent of any wrongdoings that occurred in your life.
If your goals and dreams have fallen flat, it can feel as though God is punishing you. His holy spirit abhors our prideful natures; He wants to humble you through causing some areas to fail as an act of discipline to help us grow as individuals and mature over time.
At times it can be difficult to believe that God loves us. Just remember He always wants the best for you and wants to work alongside you in helping to overcome any areas of sin in your life. Read our article about the importance of spiritual walks for more details on this. If you want to experience God’s inexhaustible love for yourself, start your spiritual walk today by turning towards Him with us! Each week, we send out a free letter with helpful and personal insights from The Good News Journal designed to help our subscribers experience the beauty of God’s New Covenant. You can sign up here; our blog also contains more on faith, relationships and family matters – we hope to hear from you! The post Does God Punish Those Who Harm Us? appeared first on The Good News Journal.
