What do you do when you get offended with God? What about those times when Jesus offends you by not meeting your expectations? It has happened to all of us who follow him if we will be honest about it.
I know that a lot of people won’t admit that they have been offended with God. Some people have walked away from a relationship with God because they openly admit their belief that God failed them.
Disappointment
Disappointment comes when our expectations are not met. All of us have expectations of God. We expect Jesus to do things for us. We are taught that God answers prayer. We claim promises given throughout the Bible for the problems that we have. There is even a whole segment of Christianity that truly believes that if you have enough faith, or make the right declaration, whatever you want is yours. Unfortunately, this has messed a lot of people up when things didn’t happen as they believed or declared.
Just like any relationship you have expectations of the other person. When they don’t meet those expectations, whether they are fair or not, you get disappointed and possibly offended. But, do we have the right to get offended at God? Is he there to serve us or are we here to serve him? Is he there to answer all our prayers as we ask or are we to trust him no matter the outcome?
John The Baptist
I am intrigued by the story of John the Baptist as told in Matthew 11:1-6. John was the forerunner of the Messiah Jesus. He was called from birth to make straight the paths of the Lord. He came out as a fireball preaching repentance to the people of Israel. He rebuked the religious leaders of his day because of their hypocrisy. He even called out a king for his immoral relationship with his brother’s wife, whom he had taken as his own.
That’s when the trouble began.
To call out a king publicly takes a lot of boldness and courage. John was a prophet and that’s what prophets do. They call out. They are courageous. They are certainly bold. And in the Hebrew Scriptures, most of them died because of that courageous boldness. John would be no exception.
Thrown into prison by King Herod because of his public rebuke, John sat there with plenty of time to pray and reflect on his life. He had prophesied and declared the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. He even baptized him and saw the Spirit descend on him like a dove. He publicly declared this was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). He had no doubt this was the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
However, in prison, he began to have his doubts. He preached that the Messiah would bring fire and that he would purge the nation (Matt. 3:12). Like most Israelites of his time, I believe that he thought the Messiah would rid the nation of Roman occupancy and once again set the nation up as the Light of the World. Israel would become great again. But this wasn’t happening.
An Offended Prophet
John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he was truly the Messiah or if should they look for another. Jesus gives his answer by directing them to tell John of the miracles that are happening. This would have reassured John that Jesus was truly the Messiah.
But then Jesus says, “tell John, blessed is the one that is not offended in me.”
John seemingly was offended that things were not working out the way that he thought they should. He was languishing in prison, yet Jesus wasn’t doing anything to get him out. Not only that, but Jesus wasn’t ridding the nation of the Romans, nor calling fire down from heaven to punish the evildoers.
I can understand John’s frustration. I have been disappointed, even offended, that God didn’t answer my prayers the way I thought he should. It’s often hard to know what to do or think when God doesn’t act the way you thought he would.
What does one do then when God disappoints them? What about getting offended with God?
First, I believe that God’s shoulders are big enough to carry our issues. He understands our frailties and weaknesses. He gets it that we don’t always understand what he is doing or why he isn’t doing it the way we want it done.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t berate John for his question of doubt, nor does he scold him. He simply assures him that he is the Messiah and instructs him not become offended. Jesus gets us. He understands.
Secondly, we have to learn to trust God, even in our misunderstandings. Many of us say that we trust God, but do we fully trust him? It’s easy to say that we trust when things are going our way but what about when they don’t? When God doesn’t act the way we think he should, or when he doesn’t answer our prayers in the manner we want, then we have to trust in his goodness and his love for us.
Next, we have to realize that God’s plans and purposes involve so much more than our limited thinking. We tend to think that the world revolves around our lives. It doesn’t. God’s plan involves our lives but also the lives of others. I have to remind myself of that often. God does what he does for his purposes in the earth, but it always involves our good and the good of others. He is a master weaver who beautifully weaves good out of all events that are happening to us and around us.
John had an idea of how Jesus was going to do things. We do as well. But, Jesus will not, and cannot, fit into our limited thinking. He is going to do exactly what needs to be done whether we understand it or not. Our job is to trust him, follow him and not become offended by him.
What about you? Have you ever been offended by God? How did you deal with it?
(Image by Marcel Gnauk from Pixabay)
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