Offenses Must Come

Have you ever been deeply offended by someone or even mildly offended?  I have and not to long ago and as I was praying for more of the Holy Spirit in my life, I was prompted to do this study, so bear with me as I search out this vital subject.  It is a very deep concern of mine because I am guilty of being offended more than once, and I am not talking about a life time, I mean not to long ago, but I have to deal with it so here we go.  Hope it helps you as I know it will help me, as it is a problem I am facing right now.

I remember a verse in Psalms 119:`65 "Great peace have they that love Thy law and NOTHING shall offend them."  That really hit me.  Nothing shall offend them.  Absolutely nothing.  So now what do I do?  The only thing I can think of to do is to give my offenses to the Lord.  I have given other things to Him and He has dealt with them, so why not give Him my offenses.

I learned something else more important than being offended. This did not hit me like the other text did but it is really important, I would have been hit with it a while back but I guess I have learned to be careful.  Here's the text:  Matthew 18:7  "Woe to the world because of offenses!  For offenses must come. but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"  Woe to us if we offend others.  Wow!  Woe to us if we offend others.
How careful we must be when we open out mouth to speak.  We don't even have to speak to be offensive, we can give a look that is offensive, that is what happened to me, it was a horrible look.  I can still see it.

It just dawned on me that whatever the problem, God is our problem solver, if we ask Him to forgive us and take it away He does it.  Also, I don't think there is a problem in this world that His word does not have good counsel for.  This morning is a good example of counsel from God's word.  I try very hard by His grace to take His counsel to me personally and benefit by it.  I pray that I love God and His law enough that I will have that great peace and nothing shall offend me.  I know people that don't even hear offenses, and that is the way I want to be.  How about you?  Not only that we won't be offended but that we will not be the cause of an offense towards others.  We are bound for the kingdom, so let's make our path smooth and peaceful.
Grandma Joan