Streams in the Desert

Devotional For

May 19

      Don't Be Offended
      
      "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me" (Luke 7:23).
      
      It is sometimes very difficult not to be offended in Jesus Christ. The offenses may be circumstantial. I find myself in a prison-house--a narrow sphere, a sick chamber, an unpopular position--when I had hoped for wide opportunities. Yes, but He knows what is best for me. My environment is of His determining. He means it to intensify my faith, to draw me into nearer communion with Himself, to ripen my power. In the dungeon my soul should prosper. The offense may be mental. I am haunted by perplexities, questions, which I cannot solve. I had hoped that, when I gave myself to Him, my sky would always be clear; but often it is overspread by mist and cloud. Yet let me believe that, if difficulties remain, it is that I may learn to trust Him all the more implicitly--to trust and not be afraid. Yes, and by my intellectual conflicts, I am trained to be a tutor to other storm-driven men.
      
      The offense may be spiritual. I had fancied that within His fold I should never feel the biting winds of temptation; but it is best as it is. His grace is magnified. My own character is matured. His Heaven is sweeter at the close of the day. There I shall look back on the turnings and trials of the way, and shall sing the praises of my Guide. So, let come what will come, His will is welcome; and I shall refuse to be offended in my loving Lord. --Alexander Smellie
      
      Blessed is he whose faith is not offended, When all around his way
      The power of God is working out deliverance For others day by day;
      Though in some prison drear his own soul languish,
      Till life itself be spent,
      Yet still can trust his Father's love and purpose,
      And rest therein content.
      
      Blessed is he, who through long years of suffering,
      Cut off from active toil,
      Still shares by prayer and praise the work of others,
      And thus "divides the spoil."
      Blessed are thou, O child of God, who sufferest, And canst not understand
      The reason for thy pain, yet gladly leavest
      Thy life in His blest Hand.
      
      Yea, blessed art thou whose faith is "not offended"
      By trials unexplained,
      By mysteries unsolved, past understanding,
      Until the goal is gained.
      --Freda Hanbury Allen