I Used To Be Offended
"Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.
Psalm 32:9a
I used to be offended by this passage because I read it as God being angry with me. But, look what He says in the next verse - He desires to surround us with his unfailing love and favor (whether we are good or bad) simply because we accept the truth of his infinite grace. Now that - a very humble man it makes! And that is the conduit through which works of the Spirit flow and miraculous changes of heart take place.
Could it be that what He is speaking of most often in His correction is our present unbelief (not unbelief when offered to initially accept Him)? Our stubbornness of not trusting Him because we are trying to make ourselves or something else our Deliverer; which He tells us will take us down a destructive or wicked path. It seems the heart of His concern for us is that we are not presently accepting the truth of His Grace. We may be trying to somehow reconcile ourselves as good without God. We might be trying to prove our righteousness on our own. That's exhausting and infinitely impossible.
As I look at verse 9 & 10 it seems to confirm the problem he's instructing us about is not coming to Him. How can someone who is holding a grudge toward you compassionately say, "Why don't you come to me?" It's not to further rebuke us. It's for rest for our soul.
Then in verse 11 He emphatically implores and assures us to rejoice in what He's done (not what we've done] by making us irrevocably righteous! He desires for us to be believing His Ever Present Good News of Grace (for this earthly life) so much that it results in our singing to Him about it.
God is not mad at us. He is not turning away from us and shunning us. Just the opposite. He is pleading with us to come to Him (not for eternal life) for present earthly deliverance, rescue and miraculous help!! We need not be offended when Our Father corrects us.
