“Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” {Matthew 18:7}
There are so many offenses in our world today. People are hurting left and right. People will hurt you and me, whether they mean to or not. Offenses are part of our world today. The key thing is to accept that. When someone hurts you, or something goes wrong and it doesn’t seem right that these things are happening in your life and you hurt, the first thing to do is accept it. It’s a part of life. That’s what Jesus said in that scripture, “For it must needs be that offenses come.” It means it’s inevitable that offenses, sins, stumbling blocks, and temptations, you name it, come. I used to think God hates me because He’s allowed bad things to happen in my life. I feel like it isn’t fair that I’m going through what I’m going through. I feel like I’m being picked on or something. I have a conversation in my head justifying myself of why I don’t deserve what I am going through. The truth is, we live in a fallen world. Sin has entered our world since Adam and Eve fell, and Satan is the prince of it. The Bible states, Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. {1 Peter 5:8} So even if you’ve done nothing wrong, the principalities of this world will get everyone. There is no one who is exempt. Remember upright Job? He did nothing wrong. Yet things went wrong in his life because Satan got jealous of him, and he moved God to try Job out to see if he really loved God or not.
Sooner or later something is going to go wrong in your life and you will experience pain. And if you live long enough you will sin. Satan will come around and tempt you like he did with Eve. Sin is the root cause of all our misery in this world today, because the Bible states that sin brings death. {James 1:15} If you know sin, and experience sin, then you are going to experience pain. That’s just the facts of life in our world that is fallen from God. That’s why I thank God for Jesus Christ, because He has come to relieve us of our pain, of all of our sin, and to save us. Without Him we’d be all so lost. We need Him. He is our only hope.
I’ve found it’s okay to be the one hurting instead of the one who hurts people. The Bible states,
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. {Matthew 5:5}
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. {James 4:6}
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. {James 4:10}
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. {Romans 3:19}
See, it doesn’t matter who hurt you or if you are not quick enough to defend yourself. God sees all that. He sees your pain, your hurt, and your humiliation. But when you make Him your confidant and friend, watch out world! You have nothing to worry about because God defends you. He justifies you and He will keep you. It’s better to be the one hurting than the one to cause pain, because that way the Lord will feel sorry for you and get on your side and bless you. The other party is not going to get any blessing, trust me on this. If they intentionally hurt you and know they hurt you but do not repent of it, they’re in trouble. The Lord said, “Woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.” In other words, woe to that person who did the offence, it’s not going to be good for him. John the Beloved tell us,
“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” {1 John 3:8}
So I say, let it go. This is the reason why the Lord told us to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. {Matthew 5:44} God is not on the side of those who sin and cause pain. Trust me on this. He’s on the side of those who choose to be humble and meek, who choose to walk away and let it go. Forgive them through the Lord. If you can’t do it, ask the Lord to help you. Bring their sins to Him, and let Him take care of it for you. Don’t turn around and harbor evil thoughts and anger against them and end up sinning yourself. The Lord knows how to take care of these things for you if you just bring these hurts to Him and talk to Him about it. Don’t be ashamed to talk to the Lord about it, this is the reason why He is here for us. If you’re hurting you have every right to come to the Lord, especially when you know you did nothing wrong. Even if you feel like you might not be totally guiltless about it, if you’re hurting at all, talk to Him nonetheless. Ask for His grace and forgiveness and find His peace. If you feel like you’ve been wronged, don’t keep it to yourself. Keeping it to yourself will give Satan the power to torment you and cause you more pain. Let the Lord Jesus know what you’re going through and how you’re feeling. Let Him know that you’re angry and you feel like hurting them back. Be yourself. Say whatever you feel like saying to the Lord. He will not hate you for being yourself because He loves you very much and He already knows what you’ve been thinking and feeling. But don’t keep these things to yourself. You need to share it with the Lord so that He can help you sort things out in your mind and give you healing and peace. It is the only way we can ever let go of hurt and shame. There’s no other healthy way to let go except talking to the Lord about it.
Anyway, being angry at people who hurt us is not worth our time and energy. It’s bad enough they’ve hurt us, don’t make it worse by letting them continue to have power over the rest of our lives too. Being angry and bitter cause depression. Do you want to go around depressed in your life rather than being happy and joyful? Life is short. Let it go. Don’t let uncaring people steal your life away from you. Remember, the Lord loves the humble. He loves the meek. He loves those who can’t defend themselves and choose not to get even with those who hurt them. They walk away. They choose to bite their lip and keep angry remarks to themselves.
If you’re the type who can’t defend yourself and can’t speak up for yourself, it’s okay. It’s okay because the Lord is on your side. I say let it go. Let the Lord comfort you and be your guide and be your strength. Find your comfort in Him and find His help. Every time you feel tempted to ruminate over the hurt they’ve done to you, talk to Jesus. Tell Him you love Him. Tell Him you appreciate Him so much in Your life and I guarantee you, you’ll hurt less and less. When you focus on Jesus every time you hurt and you love Him and thank Him for being so good to you, you’ll hurt less and less and you’ll heal. I know because I’ve been there. I’ve been hurt but I’ve learned to share my hurt with Jesus instead of getting even or staying angry and depressed. He has helped me and healed me. He told me, “Let it go. Forgive, Forget, and move on.”
Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt. {Psalm 71:21-24}
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank You that You came down and gave Your life for us so that we can be set free from the power of sin and from the power of the principalities of this world. I thank You Father that You overcame the world at the cross with Your death, so that today too we not only can live but overcome this world. Thank You so much Lord Jesus, for Your great love for us. Without You Father we are nothing. Thank You so much for loving us.
Lord, so many people are hurting today because they’ve been wronged. They continue to hurt despite of the offender being gone from their lives. Please Lord Jesus, set us free from this hurt. Help us to learn to commit them to you and talk about them to You. You are not here to put us to shame. You are here to heal us. We will not ever get over our hurts and let them go if we don’t bring these hurts to You. Please Lord, give us faith in Your great love for us to cause us to come to You and bring these hurts to You. Help us to understand that You are for us and not against us. Please Father, give us faith everyday to bring our pain and shame to You. Help us also to be humble enough to ask for Your grace and forgiveness too so that we will find our forgiveness and healing in You today. Thank You so much Lord Jesus for being gracious to us and for hearing our prayers. We ask all of these things in Your most wonderful and powerful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
