The Battle of Offense

I woke up at 5:45 a.m. this morning, which was an hour before my alarm was going to go off. Not my favorite time to wake up but I had a lot of thoughts swirling around in my mind and it gave me time to pray. Since we lost a year and a half of our photos when our computer died, I have been busy uploading all of the rest of our photos to Google Photos instead of blogging. This morning, I had it on my heart to blog something more personal. Right now, our community group (Bible study) is going through "The Bait of Satan" by John Bevere. I have done this study quite a few years ago but it is still just as relevant today as it was then. It is all about the sin of offense. Last night's session was about being offended at leaders. As I watch what is going on in the world around me, the many different opinions on social media and how people view the prime minister and the president, I thought this session was extremely challenging and thought-provoking. He talked about the story of Saul and David in the Bible. God appointed Saul as king and David was appointed his armor-bearer, married Saul's daughter, ate at the king's table and had favor with Saul's sons. Fast forward to after a battle when people sung, "Saul has killed his thousands and David his tens of thousands." Saul became bitter and turned on David, his son-in-law. For 14 years, (David was ages 16-30), Saul and his army of 3000 men pursued David in the wilderness. On more than one occasion, David had the opportunity to kill Saul but chose not to. When Abishai was about to kill Saul, who was in a deep sleep, David said, "Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?" David was very aware of the fact that it is God who appoints leaders and he trusted God to remove Saul in His timing. Saul was a terrible leader who even had 85 of the Lord's priests killed. David had every opportunity to be angry, bitter and full of revenge but he held no offense in his heart toward Saul. Amazing! When Saul died, he even wrote a love song (a psalm) about Saul and taught it to the people. Now I think of today's current leaders. How do I react to the decisions they make? Am I quick to point fingers all over social media or in the quiet places of my heart that people don't see? Is my first reaction to judge them or to run to the Lord and pray? Have I ever sat in the seat of the prime minister or the president, having to make decisions that will affect an entire nation while millions of people watch and wait to pounce on me for every thing they don't agree with? No. I am guilty of judging instead of praying and of harboring offense instead of forgiving. Do I forgive their mistakes as the Lord has forgiven all of mine? Good leaders nurture and bad leaders refine. My character will either grow stronger or bitter. Those are my options. So my challenge for all of us and especially me is to extend grace and to pray. To trust that God is moving even when I don't see it and to pray. To forgive and to pray. To continually place our leaders in God's hands. I don't want my heart to be clouded with judgments. Lord, help me to honor and respect those in authority and to trust that you are in control.