Years ago, people built traps in order to catch birds. They would balance a box on a stick tied to a rope and birdseed or
other food would be placed under the box. When a bird came to eat the
seed, the stick would trip, and the box would fall on the unsuspecting
bird.
In Greek, that stick is called the skandalizo, translated “to offend.” When skandalizo
becomes your portion—and it will—and you find yourself in a spiritually
or emotionally dark box, it is often difficult to recover because you
can feel like you’re fighting a tar baby. Every move is the wrong one.
Every prayer sounds like a poorly verbalized whimper. All counsel seems
petty or counterproductive.
Being scandalized or offended is one of the most binding
traps into which a believer can fall. In many ways, it goes far beyond
simply being hurt, deceived or ensnared by carnal sin; it has the
capacity to totally undermine and destroy our walk with the Lord. When
we have been scandalized, we really do not care what anyone thinks. We
feel the early signs of deep-seated anger, and if we are not careful we
can rapidly be sucked into the vacuum of rage and depression.
Jesus warned us about not being offended. We must allow
God to do things that we would never expect. Maturity involves guarding
against stumbling, falling into sin, or giving up our faith because our
expectations were unmet.
Bob Mumford is a veteran charismatic Bible teacher and founder of Lifechangers ministry.
