Psalm 119:165 – Offense
Those who love your law have great peace;
Nothing will offend them.
I adjusted my translation a bit toward the KJV, which is the translation of this Psalm that I memorized when I was younger. I like the word “offend,” which is within the semantic range of the word used here. You’ll see that many translations use something like “make them stumble.”
The verse got me thinking about things offend us. One connection between “offense” and “stumbling” is simply that offense makes us think about things around us in suboptimal ways. Offense makes us think about and respond to things that have really done us no harm.
Why are we so often offended?
- We might be looking for an offense so as to divert our attention from our own failings.
- We might feel inadequate and find offense at someone else a good distraction from our own inadequacies.
- We might want to put someone down who seems to be getting more attention and support than we do.
- We might not actually have any idea why we’re offended. We just find it easy to be offended.
Following God’s instructions is a good antidote to offense. If we are confidently acting in an appropriate manner, if we feel that we are following God, if we are acting with a clear mind and conscience, we are less likely to be offended by others.
As an old song says, “Full of beauty is the path of duty / Cheerful we may always be!”
What will build your confidence in God today?
(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)
