Offended by Your Father

WHY?????????

Have you ever felt offended by your father?
Has there ever been a time you felt he could have, or should have done more?

Sometimes dads do not meet our expectations. They fall short, they're human.

It's can be a moment of crisis when our heroes fail us.

We can also experience this "crisis of belief" when it comes to God.

When tragedy strikes, or things happen in our lives that just don't make sense, our faith can be shaken. We question why God who is with us, and who cares, could allow such things to happen.

We become tired and discouraged, and questions and doubt begin to form. Why God? Why now, God? How long, Lord? Why aren't you doing more God?

In Matthew 11, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus is sitting in jail for speaking against the king who was living unrighteously. He receives reports of the miracles Jesus is doing while he is languishing there. There are varying explanations of this account, but the one that stood out was that John began to question the way Jesus was doing things. If the Messiah was able to heal the sick and the lame, why not free his wrongly imprisioned strongest supporter?

As God's daughters, we can get to a similar place, "If God is with me, then why isn't He working this out differently? Can't He see how I am suffering? Why doesn't He just deliver me out of this storm?"

Jesus' answer to John's questions is quieting. In Matthew 11:6 He says, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of me."

Wow, Jesus. "Offended" because of You?

Just the idea of being offended by God seems blasphemous...but oh so real.

When others fail to meet our expectations, we get offended. When God "fails" to meet our expectations, we get offended.

How do we overcome the offenses of others? (Even those we assign to God).

1. We must admit that we are offended.
2. We have to change our expectations of others.
3. We must be willing to forgive, with the primary goal of reconciling the relationship.

More on this to come....