Day 67 – Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me

Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me." Matthew 11:2-6

Jesus was referencing messianic prophecies found in the book of Isaiah. He knew that John and his disciples would recognize these references and understand that He was the Messiah by fulfilling them.

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer… Isaiah 35:5-6a

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. Isaiah 61:1

Jesus finished His explanation to Johns' disciples by saying, "And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me". Isaiah 61 clearly states that the Messiah will "proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners". John was in prison. Jesus knew that John would not be released from prison and that he would shortly be put to death. This would be a great opportunity for Johns' disciples to feel offended at Jesus. I can imagine a list of reasons why they would have thought that Jesus, as the Messiah, would set John free from his captivity. Jesus, John is your cousin, he prepared the way for your ministry, he has lived his entire life as a faithful Nazirite and setting prisoners free is one of your most important responsibilities as the Messiah. Johns' disciples must have been shocked and hurt when the news came that King Herod had put John to death. Hopefully they remembered what Jesus had said about "he who does not take offense at Me."

This has really impacted me this week because Jesus has been revealing some areas of deep offense in my heart. I have discovered that my offense is also related to things that God has not done in His leadership of my life. Let me give you a few examples:

• I have been offended that God has not always healed me physically, despite LOTS of prayer for healing. More specifically, I REALLY didn't want to have surgery in July and I felt deeply offended at God that I had to have the surgery and pay for it when He could have healed me supernaturally.
  
• I have been offended that God has not let me get married yet. I have wanted to get married and have kids since I was a little girl. I'm 30 now and God is increasingly stirring my heart to care for and adopt orphans, but God has not given me a husband yet.
  
• I have been offended that God has not brought my brothers back to pursuing relationship with Him despite the fact that lots of us have been praying for them for years and God has spoken all kinds of prophetic promises over them for years.
  
• I have been offended that God has not been growing the House of Prayer in the Rockford region faster, even though a faithful group of us have been contending.
  

I could go on and on, but I hope that you get the point. In summary, I have discovered that my heart is easily offended by Jesus' leadership and I feel extremely unblessed or unhappy when my heart is offended at Him. So, I am confessing and repenting every time I discover offended feelings. I remind myself that it is written, "Just as the Father has loved Me [Jesus], I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." (John 15:9-11) I remind myself that Jesus wants His joy to be in me and for my joy to be made full. He knows that this will only come through obedience and an unoffended heart. I set my heart to love and obey Him again and I ask Him to help me keep my heart unoffended. I confess and pray until my feelings change, "Jesus, I love your leadership in my life. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. (Psalm 16:6a)."