Do You Struggle With Being Offended By God?

Matthew 11:6 says “Blessed is the person who is not offended by me.”

I was so offended by God when I was growing up so much so I started hating Him. I could not understand why He was allowing the awful things that were happening to me. And then I started hating myself and everyone around me. It took me through dark times. I no longer cared about anything. It wasn’t until I thought I fell in love with someone that I began caring. But it was all about attraction. I still had a 100 ft wall up around me, so no one could hurt me.

To be offended means to stumble or trip. Scripture tells us that Jesus is a rock to offense…or a rock of stumbling… to the disobedient (1 Peter 2:8). In His earthly days, Jesus was constantly offending the religious establishment.

But in the scripture above, Jesus has someone else in mind. He’s speaking to His followers: “Blessed are you, my followers, when you are not offended by me.”

John the Baptist was utterly loyal to Jesus. He walked a life of total self-denial. He gave everything up for his God. And he found himself in a cold prison.

There is no record of Jesus ever visiting him there. So John was questioning and doubting. He was probably thinking, “Was it really worth it? I lived my whole life to pave the way for the Messiah, and now I’m in prison. The Kingdom hasn’t yet come.”

John was wondering and wavering; he’s tempted to stumbiat his Lord. So he sends word to Jesus asking, “Are you really the one who was to come? Or should we expect another?”

Again Jesus didn’t visit John. He instead sends the answer to him via His disciples:

“Go back and report to John; the blnd see; the lepers are cleansed; the dead are raised; the good news is being preached to the poor…and happy is the person who is not offended in me. Peaceful is the man who doesn’t stumble over me. Blessed is the person who doesn’t fall away on account of what I do or not do.”

Over the years I’ve watched take offense with the Lotd. Some of them were passionate followers of Jesus in the younger days, but later ended up renouncing Him. Why? Because they chose to be offended by Him.

“Blessed is the person who is not offended by me.” This is the forgotten gratitude.

There are three reasons who followers of Jesus become offended:

1. He Demands Too Much. In John 16:1, Jesus tells His disciples that He’s sharing “all these things” so they won’t be offended by Him. Some of those “things” we’re stern warnings that they would be hated by the world and persecuted (John 15:18). Jesus made clear that following Him won’t lead to a bed of roses. Suffering and loss are involved.

Unfortunately, some present a gospel that leave parts out. The result is His followers get offended when the realize what they’ve gotten into. But Jesus lets us know up front what following Hin entails. Even in His own day, some of His followers stopped walking with Him because they regarded the cost of it too high (John 6:53-50).

1 He Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations. The Lird often works in ways that we don’t understand. Maybe you’ve heard some say, “My life would have been so much better today if I didn’t follow Jesus. Look where it’s gotten me.” It’s called the catch-30 crisis. There comes a point in all of our lives where we reassess the major commitments we’ve made a in early adulthood. And we either dig in deeper or we abandon ship.

Isaiah says that God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). The Lord works on levels that we cannot fathom. Paul says that God works all thing for our good (Romans 8:28). Why hasn’t God answered this prayer? Why didn’t have to conform this promise? Why did He let this happen to me? Why is God silent when I need to hear Him the most?

These are questions that plague the mind of any serious believer. If you’ve not me the God who refuses to meet all your expectations, you will. And how you react in that time will reveal whether you are wishipping Jesus Christ or Santa Clause (John 6:26).

We have a to be willing to say, “I will still serve Him, even if it sends me to hell. Should we receive good from the Lord and not evil? Scripture tells of an account where three Hebrew children that we’re loyal to their God and the pagan king said to them, “Worship my golden image of you’re going to die in my fiery furnace. Their answer was “We’re not going to worship this image or serve your gods. The Lord is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us from your fiery furnace. But even if He doesn’t, we’re still not going to bow down to your false gods” (Daniel 3:8-25).

Those words contain thunder and lightning for every believer of Christ.

The thing is only God can see the whole book. And He’s only given us the ability to see 300 or 400 pages in the entire book. We can only speculate and assume what’s in the rest of it. We create all sorts of intricate theological systems to explain the mysteries we don’t understand.

Life always comes down to trusting in the Lord rather than trying to figure out His ways with our finite, limited understanding. But we can discover and understand what’s in the pages of 300 or 400, and thereby learn to live more effectively within them.

3. He Doesn’t Show Up On Time. He works too slowly. He reacts too late. His deliverance takes too long. God’s clock is a lot slower than ours. We can text or email our prayer to God, and He doesn’t text or email back when we expect. In fact, sometimes we never hear back from Him at all. The screen is blank.

Sometimes we’ll pray for an important matter in our own lives…or we’ll pray for someone else…for years. And the dial doesn’t move. Waiting on God we can become weary. And it can lead to offense. But God always keeps perfect time. It’s just that His timing I’d different thano ours.

Here’s how NOT to be offended by God:

Remember that He demands everything, and He has promised suffering and tribulation along with blessing and eternal life. So don’t seek out for a cheap easy life. Such is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. He told us what we were getting into and exhorted us to count the cost ahead of time (Luke 14:26).

Remember that His ways are higher than ours, and He doesn’t always show us what He’s doing or why. We may not always understand what He does or allows, but He can still be trusted. This is the nature of walking by faith rather than by sight. Even when His grace isn’t sufficient, it is always sufficient.

Remember that God is always on time, but His clock ticks differently from ours. He’s a Lord who sometimes shows up long after the hour of healing has passed and we are dead for four days. Just ask Lazarus.

Being offended by God is a choice. You can choose to take offense at the Lord and stumble over that which you don’t understand. Or you can “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5j.

“The depth of the riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33).

Filling In The Holes

The Bible is filled with scriptures that tell the believer basically they only have 2 options. When anxiety attacks us there is a Inebriation or celebration. Inebriation comes from numbing ourselves with substances, for long hours, retail therapy, or binge watching movies on streamlining services or on television,

Any of this who have attempted to do this and I’m sure there are many. Know that they are only quick fixes, but not long-lasting solutions. Happy hour at the bad doesn’t make us feel happy when we try to escape it only leads us to entrapment.

So what’s the solution? Celebration. Filling the atmosphere with songs of faith, in the midst of uncertainty and instability.

If we take a look at the account of Paul in 16:23-24, him and Silas model this perfectly. As they have been dragged to Philippi, they have been beaten, blooded and bruised before being imprisoned in the deepest darkest cell (Acts 16:24).

Their response was remarkable. They began to pray and sing robust hymns to praise God. They sang with such heart that the other prisoners heard them. Paul and Silas didn’t know how their actions would end, while they didn’t have the luxury of reading the rest of this chapter. They didn’t know if or from where their deliverance would come, they believed in their deliverer.

We also can believe, we do not have to face our challenges alone, we can direct our despair into prayers of praise. We are called to worship when we are feeling beaten up, not just when we’re feeling upbeat. Praise can break our chains I’d we don’t let our chains break our praise.

Our circumstances might not be able to move our feel, but we can still lift our hands. If we focus on the area we are free in – we will soon discover we can break to chains off just as Paul and Silas had done on those prison doors, opportunities open, and deliverance will come our way, God will use the very thing that caused you to be captive to ultimately serve His purpose in your life.

Satan might be able to keep your feet from moving forward in your situation, but he can’t keep your voice sing praise.

Giving Thanks And Having Gratitude

Each holiday season comes with high expectations for a cozy and festive time of year. However, for many this time of year is tinged with sadness, anxiety, or depression.

In society today it seems almost impossible to think about being thankful with grocery shopping higher than ever, gas through the roof. It might be hard to be thankful for anything. We need to remember to be thankful for what we have.

The word gratitude is derives from the Latin word gratis, which means grace, graciousness or gratefulness (depending on the context. In some ways gratitude encompasses all of these meanings. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude people acknowledge the goodness of their lives. In the process people usually recognize that the source of the goodness lies at least partially outside themselves.

Maybe we should try and be thankful for the things inside. Inside ourselves, and inside our homes. The people who mean the most to us, and even the food that we have.I know some people who cannot even afford to put a turkey on their table this year. No matter what we eat we have to be thankful that we have food. And concentrate on the love of others, and maybe even on the love of God.

Gratitude is strongly and consistently appreciated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps us feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve our health, deal with adversity and build strong relationships.

So if you’re feeling a little down during this holiday season. Be thankful for the things you already have.

How To Get The Peace That Passes All Understanding

The Lord is near. Do not but anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation with prayer and supplication (Being Humble) with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything? Tell your requests to God with thanksgiving? The Lord is near? The Lord is near? Peace that surpasses all understanding?

In my height of anxiety and fear and worry, these words felt hallow and fruitless. I once told my husband, “I understand the anxiety, fear and worry that surpasses all understanding… but peace is harder to feel or even understand.” My anxiety caused panic attacks, my fear caused me not to talk to anyone, and my worry was crippling. Basically my mind never stopped because of the anxiety, fear and worry in my life. How on earth could I ever be at peace. It made me feel powerless. Now while all of this is in control, it will never completely go away.

When Covid came it caused a lot of people fear and economic uncertainty and anxiety to come into a lot of people’s lives. We were all asking for the peace that surpasses understanding at this time. How could we respond to our feelings of anxiety, fear the worry and walk confidently be aligned with this verse in our minds and hearts?

It took us a couple years to even get a grip on everything that has happened. And we still see people wearing masks, because of the fear they have.

We need to trust that the anxiety, fear and worry is not our enemy. We live in a world that runs from pain. And that pain is trying to communicate with us that something is wrong. But how many listen to it. I know I don’t always realize it. Anxiety, fear and worry is similar to pain it’s trying to communicate something powerful to you about you, your family, or this world. It becomes a ugly three headed monster when we try to silence these. What we resist will persist. Instead of resisting these emotions what would it look like to actually walk along side them and listen to what they are telling us about ourselves. Like trying to get a word in edgewise they only get louder if we don’t face them. When we choose to face them they will get quieter and softer.

Going back to Paul’s letter to the Philippians about the peace that passes all understanding (while suffering with anything) about giving thanks (while Paul was in prison) about God guarding his heart and mind (as he was isolated and alone) Paul abided in the Lord daily.

Let’s face it, we now have time to do this. Pick up your Bible (or your phone) and start reading. For those who have never done this, here are a few recommendations:

Start by reading a few verses each day in the New Testament section of the Bible- my top three are James, John and 1 John, and I spend a lot of time in the Psalms. But you can’t go wrong in any of the books.

Read a proverb each day they teach a lot of wisdom.

Did you know that there are 366 verses in the Bible about fear and anxiety.

Maybe a change of scenery is in order. When I’m feeling anxious during the day, I like to take walks. But if you live a big city maybe a drive is best. The point is to change your scenery.

Even at night when anxiety, fear or worry comes creeping in, I make a cup of something hot, read my Bible or journal. I like to pray during this time too or even talk quietly out loud to God. On those particularly difficult nights I listen to music until I fall asleep to he,p my mind rest.

Paul tells us not to be anxious because the truth will set us free. It brings comfort knowing that God is in control of everything. And He promised that He was a plan for us not to harm us but to give us a future and hope. That alone should cause us to be at peace with understanding that God will never leave us nor forsake us.