Text:

Then an opportune day came – Mark 6:21

Thought:

“Hell has no fury like a woman scorned”, so wrote William Congreve, the English Playwright, in ‘The Mourning Bride’.

Herodias, wife of King Herod, seethed with anger over the way John the Baptist had denounced their marriage as unlawful in God’s eyes, because she had been previously married to Herod’s brother. Herod, fearing a populous revolt if he executed John, kept him imprisoned. But Herodias wanted much more than that, she wanted his blood! Every time John’s name came up in conversation served only to fan the flames of anger and revenge.

Then one day, unexpectedly, Herodias’ chance came. Her daughter Salome danced during a banquet. Herod was thrilled and wanting to show his pleasure, invited her to ask for whatever she wanted. After consulting with her mother, Salome marched back in and asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod’s heart  sank, but rather than refuse the request and lose face amongst his high-ranking guests, he commanded it to be done.

The Bible called it, ‘an opportune day’, but it became an occasion to do wrong. How much better it would have been for Herodias spiritually if she had told Salome to ask for John the Baptist’s freedom, realising that what he had said was right in God’s eyes. Leaving her husband to marry Herod was wrong. How revenge can blind us to the truth. Far too many live with unforgiveness, saying and doing things in their minds to those who have upset them, hoping that one day they’ll be able to do it in reality. And that day usually comes!

One man, upset over the way a consultant had brusquely spoken to his wife about her likely premature death from cancer, lived with the thought that one day he would tell that consultant what he thought of him. Unfortunately, when the opportune time came, the meeting was also to talk about his own cancer!

Just as occasions will arise when we can do wrong, so there will be opportunities to do right. “I knew I should have but”. It’s amazing how we let the least thing stop us. When I worked in healthcare sales, the customer liked the product, could afford it, yet all too often, would hesitate purchasing despite knowing it would improve their quality of life. Wanting to think about it was their way of avoiding making a decision. Quickly I would remind them, “It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing!”

The Bible says, ‘It’s time to seek the Lord’¹. But God also warns, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with men forever’². ‘Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near’³. Usually the first opportunity we have to respond will have the most pull. After that, if we’re not careful, each chance to get right with God will have less effect, until our heart becomes hardened and unresponsive.

‘Today, if you will hear His voice, don’t harden your heart’⁴. Be willing to let go of the past, and the past will let go of you. Then you’ll have a new future to look forward to, one that’s free from unforgiveness and the desire for revenge.

^{1 – Hosea 10:12}

^{2 – Genesis 6:3}

^{3 – Isaiah 55:6}

^{4 – Hebrews 3:15}