Command 32 : Forgive Offenders | Day 223

List Benefits From Offenses!

What do you do if you forgive an offender and verbally ask God to bless him, but you still feel the emotional pain and keep reliving the offense? If we want to experience complete freedom from past hurts, there is a vital step that must be carried out.

If we fail to see the benefits that God intended for allowing an offense to happen, we will find it difficult to rejoice.

We are commanded to rejoice in all things. This includes trials, tribulations, persecutions, false accusations, and all other offenses. (See I Peter 4:13 and Matthew 5:12.) A powerful way to do this is to ask yourself why God might have allowed it to happen.¹

As we begin to investigate the bigger picture and think of the offense in terms of God's ultimate purposes for our good, we will find many reasons to genuinely rejoice. Here are some possible reasons why God might allow someone to offend us:

• To draw us closer to God. He wants our moment-by-moment fellowship. If He sees our hearts straying, He will use whatever means are necessary to draw us back to Himself. David said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Psalm 119:71).
• To purify our faith. Just as fire purifies the dross from gold, so fiery trials purify our hearts and lives. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:7).
• To give us more grace and power. When Paul wanted to be delivered from his "thorn in the flesh," God informed Paul that He had given him enough grace for the situation and that His strength would be perfected in Paul's weakness. (See II Corinthians 12:9.)
• To give us compassion for others. We can be sure that the trials and offenses that we go through are encountered by many others as well. Therefore, when we experience the heartache of offenses, we will be able to have deep empathy and compassion for others who experience similar hurts.
• To give us answers to share. Not only will we be able to give genuine comfort to others, but we will also be able to give them the same spiritual counsel that God gave us through our trials. This is the promise of II Corinthians 1:2–7.

We can be confident that there are benefits to offenses, because "... all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).

After Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, he had ample reasons to become bitter and hateful toward them. However, when he was unexpectedly reunited with them, Joseph acknowledged the sovereignty of God in the events of his life by telling his brothers, “Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good ...” (Genesis 50:19-20).

We can experience similar victory over bitterness and unforgiveness when we learn to look for the ways God is using an offense to benefit our lives. Try this for yourself today and see if you don't find more than enough reasons to rejoice!

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1. More teaching on this topic is contained in my book, "Why Did God Let It Happen?".