{"id":1713,"date":"2024-06-02T11:46:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-02T01:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/?p=1713"},"modified":"2024-06-02T11:46:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T01:46:16","slug":"61-blessed-are-you-if-you-are-not-offended-with-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/2024\/06\/02\/61-blessed-are-you-if-you-are-not-offended-with-me\/","title":{"rendered":"(61) Blessed are you if you are not offended with me."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Preface:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My life has been a bit crazy the last several months. We packed up and left PNG 3 weeks after we heard my mom was diagnosed with cancer. After a 3 month battle, she went home to be with Jesus April 5th 2024. After the memorial service a week later, my dad\u2019s health declined significantly, leading to his admission to the hospital where they a cancerous tumor. Since he has needed so much care, our life ishas been on hold until we know whether the cancer can be cured, and whether he is going to need continuing care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is God doing? I could be asking many questions of why. But instead, we have chosen to be asking, \u201cGod how do you want to use us in this situation?\u201d What do you do when things don\u2019t make sense and you can\u2019t understand why God would allow things to happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Passage: <\/strong>Mark 6:14-29; Luke 7:18-29<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Process:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Why had John been arrested? (Mark 6:17-18)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Who was more upset Herod or his wife? What did that lead to? (Mark 6:19-20; 21-25)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. What was John\u2019s state of mind in prison? (Luke 7:18-23)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. While John never got to see the results of his ministry, what was Jesus\u2019 opinion? (Luke 7:24-29)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Purpose: (What was God doing? Why did He have this written down?)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When we read Jesus\u2019 epilogue of John, John\u2019s ministry was a great success. Jesus said, \u201cOf all who have ever lived, none is greater than John.\u201d (John 7:28) And yet, what did John see at the end of his life? He was rotting in a prison, destined to a martyrs death. He only had a few faithful disciples who relayed messages to him about Jesus. But, aside from that, he had very little to show for his life\u2019s ministry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What was going through John\u2019s mind? Clearly, from the message he sent to Jesus, he was wrestling with things. We don\u2019t really know for sure what was in John\u2019s mind, but I have enjoyed how Gene Edwards in his short book, \u201cPrisoner in the Third Cell,\u201d portrayed what this scene may have been like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As Jesus sends his response back to John, Edwards writes of Jesus, \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI gave you a task greater than the one I gave to Moses. You are a prophet greater than any who has ever come before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cBut, most of all, you are my kin. You are my own flesh and blood. \u201cIf ever, ever I have wanted to give answer to a man\u2019s questions, to explain my sovereign ways, it is today. Yet I have been to you, as to all others, a Lord not<\/em> fully understood, a God who rarely makes clear exactly what He is doing in the life of one of His children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As John\u2019s disciples witness Jesus\u2019 ministry in the town of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and they recall other times they had witnessed Jesus\u2019 ministry, they observe that many are healed, but not all. The sick, the lame, the blind all come, and Jesus heals many. But, at the end of the day, there was still a line of people, and Jesus didn\u2019t heal them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Again, Edwards reflects on what Jesus may have wanted to say to John: \u201cWhen I called you, John, and told you that you would announce the coming of the Messiah, you assumed that because you were going to prepare the way for me, you would have the joy of seeing that wonderful day of my coming in glory. But today you have met a God you do not understand. Such is the mystery of my sovereignty. Such are my ways in every generation. No man has ever understood me, not fully. No man ever will. I will always be something other than what men expect me to be. I will work out my will in ways different from what men foresee. Death stands beside you. Die, my brother John, in the presence of a God who did not live up to your expectations.\u201d \u201cAnd blessed are you if you are not offended with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I really like his final chapter. It\u2019s short. Here\u2019s what he wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Chapter 19:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A day like that which awaited John awaits us all. It is unavoidable because every believer imagines his God to be a certain way, and is quite sure his Lord will do certain things under certain conditions. But your Lord is never quite what you imagined Him to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You have now come face to face with a God whom you do not fully understand. You have met a God who has not lived up to your expectations. Every believer must come to grips with a God who did not do things quite the way it was expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You are going to get to know your Lord by faith or you will not know Him at all. Faith in Him, trust that is in Him . . . not<\/em> in His ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Today you are resentful of those who so callously hurt you. But no, not really. The truth is you are angry with God because, ultimately, you are not dealing with men, you are dealing with the sovereign hand of your Lord. Behind all events, behind all things, there is always His sovereign hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The question is not, \u201cWhy is God doing this? Why is He like this?\u201d The question is not, \u201cWhy does He not answer me?\u201d The question is not, \u201cI need Him desperately; why does He not come rescue me?\u201d The question is not, \u201cWhy did God allow this tragedy to happen to me, to my children, to my wife, to my husband, to my family?\u201d Nor is it, \u201cWhy does God allow injustices?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The question before the house is this: \u201cWill you follow a God you do not understand? Will you follow a God who does not live up to your expectations?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your Lord has put something in your life which you cannot bear. The burden is simply too great. He was never supposed to do this<\/em>! But the question remains, \u201cWill you continue to follow this God who did not live up to your expectations?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cAnd blessed are you if you are not offended with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Plan:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    As I ask these questions of myself, I encourage you to ask them too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n