What a shame—yes, how stupid!—to decide before knowing the facts! — Proverbs 18:13 TLB

Among the traps of offense in which the devil tries to snare us is the trap of drawing hasty conclusions…assuming what someone else thinks or doesn’t think; or assuming what a person’s attitude or intentions are, when we aren’t even face to face with him or her. We put much faith in our ability to read into body language, or worse, discerning the climate in which written words were penned. Is it really what we think it is? And now we live in the day of text messages, emails, and such…more ways to misunderstand and draw wrong conclusions. I’ve had to learn many hard lessons about forming hasty opinions over the years, and sometimes I need a refresher course! Why, in the book of Joshua, the children of Israel nearly went to war over a false assumption of someone else’s intentions behind an action! How many times have I almost “gone to war” without discerning truth?

The enemy of your soul will have you convinced that someone is against you who really isn’t! He will tell you that the person thinks something which couldn’t be further from the truth…or that his or her actions or inactions are out of spite, disrespect, lack of love, unconcern, or with ulterior motives. Many times the devil has duped me into thinking this or that person didn’t like me or was mad at me! And what a blessing it was, those times when the ice got broken, and I felt so foolish when I found that I was completely wrong! This old gal has had to repent a time or three for having a completely wrong perception of someone!

When you are very close to advancing to a new level, don’t be surprised if Satan throws a grand opportunity in front of you to get angry, offended, to burn bridges, or just to allow a root of bitterness or resentment to spring up toward someone in your circle. Be it a peer or someone under whose authority you serve, guard your heart with all diligence against offense. Recognize that what feels like a reasonable assumption may be a diversion that sets you off course from where God wants you to be heading! Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions, especially where your feelings are concerned—our feelings can play tricks on us! The devil can’t touch our spirit man but he sometimes has a field day with our mind, will, and emotions!

Remember all the times others have assumed wrong things about you, and how unfair it felt to be the target of false perception, if you’re ever tempted to assume the worst about someone else. People are prone to fail us; not so much intentionally, but because they’re human, they’re not God! We all get distracted, we forget, we miss things, we get tunnel vision, we run out of time, our priorities get out of balance, we sometimes say things that can be taken more than one way…and we don’t always know when someone else perceives we have done something wrong. Likewise, a good bit of the time, others may have no clue when they have done something to rub US the wrong way!

And in all this…we never REALLY know what kind of very private storm another person may be going through—stress, relationship problems, loss of a loved one, financial lack, insecurity, sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, a health scare, a son or daughter in trouble…or just too much stuff all at once. Let’s go a little easier on one another.

Lord, when I’m about to draw a hasty conclusion in error, correct me and help still my agitated spirit! Don’t let me be disqualified from passing an important test, over being caught up in wrong assumptions and opinions formed out of context! I will place a demand on my maturity as it relates to knee-jerk reactions, because self-control is a fruit of the Spirit! I commit to take time to learn the truth on situations that would violate my peace, instead of letting my imagination and feelings rule me—and even if truth turns out to be ugly, help me extend the same kind of mercy that You daily extend to me! Help me keep my eyes on you and walking safely away from snares of offense!