I’m Offended!

In December, I had a heated conversation with a friend.  During our conversation, I could sense God saying something amidst this unpleasant talk.  “He is right, about this” is what came to mind, later.

It would have been easy to remain angry and hurt.  It would have been easy to say, “I’m offended! How dare he say that! I’ll just go to another church!”  Except for one thing; this is not how I dealt with the issue.

Through our anger and frustrations, I could sense the Spirit touching my heart. It’s why I said “I refuse to let you wreck what God is doing!” and hung up.  I went immediately to my Heavenly Father and aired my frustration and hurts to Him.  In Psalm 142:2, King David says the same thing and he had much bigger problems than I.

You may have notice David says “I air my complaints to the Lord”.  He doesn’t say the guy sitting next to me or post it on Facebook. He gave his burdens and complaints to the Father and did a better job of leaving it there than I.

The Holy Spirit helped me with forgiving my friend for his angry words.  He also helped me, to look at the real issue and not run from it. This will shock some people. It is not a sin to be angry. It is what we do when angry that causes trouble.  Paul once said “Be angry, but do not sin in your anger! Do not give the Devil a foothold or a door of opportunity!” (Ephesians 4:26-27)

This was not an overnight deal. It took some time and work.  God is faithful to see me, through it.  It took a willingness to honestly examine the issue and letting the offense go.  It sometimes helps to reach out to a neutral party. Both Scripture and a friend were a great source of help.

“Haven’t you waited, long enough?”

It is best to reconcile a matter quickly and not wait so long.  This is precisely what I was doing.  Thankfully, God is faithful to help us, through this process. Though I was hurt, I was not exempted from reconciling with my friend.  I needed to call.  Here’s a shocker. My friend didn’t know I was hurt.  I was foolishly waiting and he knew not. I, also needed to apologize for how I responded to him.

“Haven’t you waited, long enough?”