September 16, 2025 Devo

There is a saying in sports that says, “The second man always gets caught.” What that means is that if a player gives you a cheap shot during a game and gets away with it, the moment you retaliate, YOU will get caught! Smart players learn to leave penalizing to the referees and not try to take justice into their own hands.
That practice is a wise one, and not just in the arena of sports. I read a funny story about a young man who was really mad at his brother because his brother ratted him out for sneaking out one night. He decided he was going to pay his brother back for that. So he got his grandmother’s laxative and poured some of it into his brother’s milkshake. Unfortunately, he picked up the wrong shake and ended up drinking the tainted milkshake himself. Let’s just say that didn’t come out the way he had hoped it would!
Our passage today reminds us that justice belongs in God’s Hands, not ours. “He will judge the world with justice.” Notice that the psalmist doesn’t say YOU will judge or that I will judge, but that GOD will judge. That takes the revenge and retaliation right out of our hands. Which is a really good thing. Think about it. Sometimes, when WE judge, we judge without knowing the whole story. We simply judge from our limited perspective. We see people’s actions. We hear the words they speak or the looks they have. What we DON’T see are their hearts. We don’t see their intentions or understand the “why” behind what we see. But God does. That’s why He’s the only True Judge.
Another reason it’s good to let God be the judge is that when we retaliate, we become just like the people we’re retaliating against. If a guy elbows me in a basketball game and I elbow him in return, I simply become a dirty player just like him. If my neighbor becomes a jerk and dumps junk in my yard, and I dump it back and add a little of my own, I’ve become the same kind of jerk that I’m upset with. When someone mocks me for my Christian faith and I respond by mocking them for what they believe, I don’t become more holy. I just prove I’m every bit as fallen as they are.
The next time we feel the urge to judge or retaliate, let’s remember the words of today’s psalm. Let’s remember also the words of Jesus. “Turn the other cheek.” “Go a second mile.” “Bless those who persecute you.” “Forgive as God has forgiven you.” And my personal favorite, “Love your enemies.” Let God be the Judge, and let us try to just go and be Jesus. Because the second man not only gets caught, he also gets judged! That’s God’s Word for you today.