And blessed is he…
The life of John the Baptist has been the focus of my studies lately. In part I’ve been looking at how John ended up in prison for daring to tell Herod that he was wrong to marry his brother’s wife. While in prison John heard about the works of Christ and he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask one simple question, Are you the Christ or should we look for another… (Matt 11:2)
When John’s disciples relayed John’s question to Jesus, it would have been simple for Him to answer John’s question. However, instead of giving the disciples of John a simple yes answer Jesus return message to John was,
4 … “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see 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. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Matt 11:4-6)
I always found verse 6 to be a powerful verse because of that word offended. It seems like such a strong word for Jesus to say in his message to John. Was there a possibility that John was offended with Jesus? If he was I would probably understand that, after all he had given his life to preaching the gospel, preparing the way for the messiah and now that he was in prison he could not even get an answer to a simple question. Where is the fairness in that?
When we start our journey with Christ we find out early it is not an easy one. There are seasons where there is more sorrow than joy, more pain than laughter, more lack than plenty, during those times we wonder, “ Where are you Lord? And like he did to John he says to us, “…and blessed are you if you are not offended with me.”
During those times like John, we want answers however often we don’t receive the answers that we seek at that moment. So what should we do in those times?
Pray – Have you ever noticed that in the times you need to pray most the devil tries to steal your prayers? But in those times we need to push a little harder. Pray until sometime happens. Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Give thanks… One of the most difficult thing to do when you going through difficult times is give thanks. We’re not thanking Him for the difficult times but the fact that He’s with us as we go through them.
Trust – No matter how impossible situations look, believe that God will stand by his word and if it doesn’t work out the way you expected it to know that in the end he will turn it around for your good.
Pray, give thanks, trust… I find all of these equally hard to do when God is not doing what I want Him to do. However, I’m grateful that even during those times when He does not meet my expectations His plan is ultimately for my good.
Amen, so very, very true.
This was a powerful word from on High.
Pray, give thanks, trust…
Even through the difficult times-you are right-for in these times the enemy tries to steal or hope,our prayers,our footing.
This speaks to something I am going through right now, I mean it just happened less than 4 hours ago. I thank God for putting this before my eyes. May God grace,peace, and wisdom continue to pour into you sister.
Oh, Bernadine, what a powerful post. You are right, it is hard to understand when things don’t work out the way we thought it should. I think the word trust is the key word here. I pray that I will trust Him until the end…
Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us.
I love your insights on the interaction between Jesus and John’s disciples. I have never looked at the interaction this closely before. I am going to repeat the words, “Pray, Give Thanks, Trust”, over the next week so when I hit a rough patch they will immediately come to mind.