Scripture Reading: Matt. 11:6
What does the offense of the Lord refer to? The Lord said, "Blessed is he who is not stumbled because of Me" (Matt. 11:6). The Lord's offense means that the Lord has done something which we are not pleased with; that is, we do not like what the Lord has done. We may even have a reason for not liking what He has done. In our own eyes we should be offended. What the Lord did or did not do made John the Baptist offended. John was not offended by the Pharisees or the publicans; he was offended by the Lord. From his stand- point there was a reason for him to be offended.
Why was he offended? He hoped for Israel's restoration as a nation, and he hoped that the Lord would bring in a revival. The first Elijah had gone up to Mount Carmel and had wrought mighty works. Israel was revived and Elijah's ministry was vindicated, but the second Elijah was put in prison and shortly would be killed. He sent a message to the Lord because he was offended. No doubt he thought that the Lord should do something for him. "Are You the Coming One, or should we expect another?" (Matt. 11:3). He wanted the Lord to do something to demonstrate who he was. Yet the Lord did nothing to show who he was or to vindicate his ministry.
"Not [being] stumbled because of Me" means not being offended by what the Lord does. We may feel that the Lord does not do what we want. He has not done what we feel He should; He does not vindicate us. Are we pleased with the way of the Lord with us? This is not a matter of knowing and doing the will of God, but of whether or not we like His ways. Often we do God's will with much weeping. We weep because we are offended by the way He does things; we are offended by His ways, His methods, etc., and it seems as if we have reason to be offended.
This has nothing to do with the Lord's dealing with our flesh or our soul-life. That dealing is on a far lower plane. I am now speaking of one whose whole heart is for God. We have sought to know His will, wanting nothing for ourselves. We want His glory, and yet in many of God's ways we are disappointed. We come to a great difficulty and there is no way out. We are ill and we expect Him to heal us, but we are not healed. We are weak, but no strength comes. We are short of money, but no money comes. It seems as if God does not come up to our expectations. When this happens again and again, we are offended by "the offense of the Lord." Many people are not yet qualified to be offended by the Lord; they fall because of the flesh and the world. When the Lord seems to disappoint them, it is actually they who have been wrong.
Not being offended with the Lord is the highest form of discipline. Often we feel that the Lord must step in to take care of His testimony, and that His honor and faithfulness are at stake. Yet He will not come in. God led the children of Israel through the wilderness. After coming out of Egypt, they were pursued and shut in by the enemy. There were mountains behind them as well as to the right and to the left of them; furthermore, there was the sea in front of them. Then God opened a way through the sea. Whenever we get to a place where we are shut in, we expect God to open a way through the sea. However, many times He does not do it. The prison gates do not open; the money does not come; the situation is not dealt with. Here comes the test. Those who love the ways of the Lord can look up and say, "You were not pleased for us to die in Egypt. But if it pleases You that we die near the Red Sea, so be it. Whether or not the Red Sea opens, we are content and glad." Madam Guyon said, "I believe God more than His work." Even though God does not seem to keep His promise, we believe Him anyway. This is not being offended in Him. When there is an utter consecration and we give ourselves for His service, we expect God to do something for us. If we have such a consecration, we have a great expectation. When we are not up to that point, we can explain away everything on the ground of our weakness or because we were wrong or mistaken. But when we are at the point of utter consecration, we expect to see God's deliverance. When God does not come in and we feel that it is our right for God to come in, that is the offense of the Lord. Those who are not offended by the Lord's offense are blessed. We want to be able to say, "If God acts according to His promise, it is good; but if not, it is also good." One day everything will be explained, and we will see that God was right. His ways are higher than our ways. There are many things which we cannot see or understand now. When we stand before the judgment seat, we will not be the only ones who are judged. Not only will we have to explain many things to the Lord, but also God will have to explain many things to us as well. There will be many cases when I thought I was right but was actually wrong. There will also be cases in which God will say, "I was right, but you were also right."
