Esther 9:24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them.
“Avengers” mulch over incidents or episodes and ruin the present by reminiscing over the past. Grudges often persist rumination of an incident over and over again causing emotional pain and stress. It will also cause them to recollect multiple past bad behaviours of a person to substantiate their conclusion. They rehearse and replay the dialogues and research the demography until they are convinced that they have been callously, intentionally and ruthlessly hurt. Those who hold grudge, bitterness and resentment pass it on from generation to generation through the bloodline. “Grudges seldom hurt anyone except the one bearing them” – Sherrilyn Kenyon.
Haman was the chief minister of the King of Persia. Haman means “tumult/clamor”. He was the descendant of King Agag, the Amalekite King. There had been a long standing animosity between the Jews and Amalekites for many centuries. The resentment of King Agag in 1028BC was still seething insatiably in Haman, the Amalekite descendant in 474BC! This hostility and enmity was ingrained in Haman. He hated the Jews and plotted to obliterate them from the face of the earth. Resentment, bitterness and hatred was transmitted to Haman through the lineage. God turned the tables around and the harm that was plotted against the Jews to destroy Haman and his family. “Holding a grudge is like letting someone live rent-free in your head”.
Three dangers of revenge, hatred and vengeance:
- Reel: Reflux of the past will reel the injustice, anger and rejection leaving a bad taste in our mouth. Rethinking, meditating and re-examining a painful event will stir up unforgiveness. It will destroy self-esteem, self-respect and self-confidence. Bitterness infiltrates into the bloodstream and will contaminate generations. Forgiveness means to extend the ‘benefit of doubt’ to an offender. Forgiveness is complete only if we hear the name, see a text from the offender or encounter the person and don’t feel the pinch of the pain. Forgiveness is to retain the lessons from the bad incident but respond in love to the offender. Remember the facts but repay forgiveness. Stop reeling.
- Revisit: Revisiting the painful incident will give life to the past agony. It will open up the wounds and scrape away the healing layer exposing the raw lesion. Every time a past incident is repeated, the injury bleeds and throbs. Repeated scuffing will never allow the wound to heal. This is why people hold grudges for decades. Proverbs 10:19 Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues. Stop repeating and revisiting.
- Refresh: Refresh is a new start, not starting from square one. Refreshing pushes the over-thinkers and grudgers to go back several months or years to relive the incident. Renewing our thinking is to realign it to the Word of God. Forgiveness will renovate, repair and refurbish the damaged brain cells and distorted thinking pattern to revitalize the mind. Renew – don’t resume.
Over-thinking will drag us to brokenness, self-pity and bitterness. Life is too short to be wasted by wallowing in the past.
Romans 12:2 Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think (TPT).
Prayer: Father of Mercy, help me to extend the same mercy that I have enjoyed from You. Teach me to forgive and to let go of the past and never to reel, revisit or ruminate over painful wounds. Amen.
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