Devotions

Jesus exposed one of the enemy’s biggest methods of causing God’s people to stumble when He spoke this message to John: “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Matthew 11:6). The word for offended in Greek means “entrap, trip up, ensnare.” I believe Jesus was tenderly warning John, “You ask Me if I’m the One you have claimed I am. John, can’t you see what is happening here? Satan isn’t trying to get to Me, he is setting a trap for you through that question.”

Christ had been through the same test Himself during His forty days in the wilderness. And now He was telling John, “The devil is setting you up, trying to ensnare you. But you can’t entertain his lies. He says I’m not who I claim to be but you must not fall into this satanic trap.”

Let me ask you: What do you think is at stake in Jesus’ phrase, “offended in me”? What makes these three words so powerful? It’s that Jesus knew the consequences for John if he gave in to Satan’s lie. He knew what would happen if this godly man began to doubt who he was in Christ.

You see, all Satan had to do was trick John into speaking three words—three words that would quickly undo all the prophecies that had been delivered centuries before. All the good that God had accomplished in and through John would be undone. And the faith of untold multitudes, including generations to come, would be shipwrecked. What were the three words that Satan wanted John to utter? “I have regrets!”

The word “regret” means “distress over unfulfilled expectations.” To regret is to say, “My hopes have not been met.” In short, it is a statement that refutes one’s own faith.

Yet I believe John never got to that point. Instead, he received Jesus’ message to him, the essence of which was: “John, there awaits you a blessing of faith and reassurance if you will resist Satan’s lies. Do not allow unbelief about who I am to take root in you. If you do, you’ll doubt who you are and all that God has done in your life.”
 

God’s promises are meant to build up our expectations in Him. We are to claim His Word as the rock-solid promise of a loving, powerful Father to His children. Yet, often, when we don’t see His Word being fulfilled according to our schedule, the enemy floods our minds with questions about God’s faithfulness. Satan’s aim is simple: to rob us of all our confidence in the Lord.

I’m convinced the devil tried to raise all kinds of doubts in John the Baptist when he was in prison. I imagine him whispering into John’s ear: “Yes, this Jesus is a holy man. But He’s just another prophet performing miracles and doing good deeds. If He is the Messiah, then why are you still in such need? Why hasn’t He kept His word, as Isaiah and the prophets laid it out? And why hasn’t your own preaching worked for you?”

Satan uses these same lies and deceptions against us today. His goal is to plant seeds of doubt in us about God’s Word, His promises, His delight in us. The enemy whispers: “You say your heavenly Father is a God of miracles, of the impossible, that He hears your requests before you even ask. Then why all this suffering? Why all the silence from heaven? Why isn’t there a single shred of evidence that God has heard your cry?

“Look around you. Everyone is receiving answers to their prayers but you. You’re stuck in an unfulfilling marriage. You pray for your children to be saved, but nothing changes. For years, you’ve preached God’s faithfulness to others, so why hasn’t it worked for you? Why has He left you stuck in this awful condition?”

One sure evidence that unbelief has taken root in your soul is that you quit praying for what you once believed God could do. You no longer bring your burdens to Him. You don’t come to Him in faith anymore. In short, you’re no longer willing to let Him do things His way in your life.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).
 

Abraham was neither Christian nor Jew. As far as we know, he didn’t have any history with God at all. But one day he was commanded by God, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). So Abraham packed up and left!

We all venerate Abraham as our forefather in the faith, but his story is actually sort of strange. Here’s a man who had everything—wealth and heritage, a wonderful wife, and plenty of cattle and land. Yet, incredibly, when a voice told him, “Get up and leave,” he heeded it. He willingly separated himself from everything he knew, even good things, to follow God.

Now, let me ask those of you who are married: Would you think it strange if your spouse said a voice had told him to give up his job, his home and possessions, and move his family to another state with no promise of support or income? Even if he thought he had heard from God? Maybe you would be willing to go—but wouldn’t you be tempted to call a psychiatrist first?

What compelled Abraham to do this? What empowered such clear separation? A look at Stephen in Acts 6 and 7 provides some insight. Stephen was clearly set apart for God’s purposes, working miracles and wonders in Christ’s name in the early Church. Yet this got him into trouble with the religious leaders. As he stood before them on trial, he preached, “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia” (Acts 7:2).

Stephen was saying, in effect, “Are you offended by my faith? Well, it all started when our father Abraham left behind his dependency on the things of this world to follow God. Once he beheld the Lord’s glory, he gladly separated himself from everything he knew!”

Many of you reading this know what Stephen was talking about. When you first encountered Christ, you recognized, “I just tasted something I’ve never tasted before. I’ve never known this kind of joy. I’ve never experienced this awe. I know for sure I’m on holy ground.”
 

When I think of how tender and compassionate God was toward me during the time I went home to bury my mother, I sometimes find myself overwhelmed by His goodness and mercy. At a time when I most needed comfort, He was right there beside me, holding me, whispering in my ear, “Don’t worry, Nicky. Your mother is with me.” I found greater shelter and solace in the arms of God than I could have ever found on earth.

In my hour of need, I crawled into the heart of Christ, and He embraced me, as He has always done during dark and lonely moments. This is the relationship I have with Jesus. It is how He lets me know how much He cares for me—how He cares for all those who depend on Him. For those who love Him and accept Him as the Brother.

It reminds me of when my children were very small. There were times when they were playing on the carpet and they would hurt their finger on a toy. They’d start to cry, and I would go over to see what had happened. I’d bend down and extend my arms and say, “Come see Daddy. Let me kiss the hurt.”

They would immediately crawl toward me and let me lift them onto my lap. And then I would hold them, kiss them, and comfort them. “Don’t worry,” I’d whisper softly into their ear. “Daddy is here. Everything will be all right.”

That’s the kind of relationship He wants each of us to have with Him. That’s the kind of God we serve. His compassion runs deep and wide and knows no limits. His love is as real and vibrant as the morning mist or the evening sky. “In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge,” David wrote. “Be my rock of refuge, to which I always go. . . . From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you” (Psalm 71:1, 3, 6).

David understood that without God’s mercy and compassion, his life would not be worth living. He didn’t just serve the God of the universe; he had a real relationship with a loving and gracious Father. That’s what set him apart from other kings and Jews of the day. That’s what endeared him to God so powerfully.

And that’s how God wants all of His children to see Him.

Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run. 

David listened to God’s word from the prophet Nathan and he repented and obeyed. As a result, he spent the rest of his life growing in his knowledge of God. The Lord brought great peace into David’s life, and eventually all his enemies were silenced.

Yet the clearest evidence of God’s restoration in David’s life is his own testimony. Read what David wrote in his dying days:

• “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer . . . in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour” (2 Samuel 22:2–3). This is not the testimony of someone who has faded away.
• “[My God] did hear my voice. . . . He took me; he drew me out of many waters. . . . He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me” (2 Samuel 22:7, 17, 20). Even after all that David did to displease the Lord, he was able to say, “The Lord delights in me.”

The reason that David will forever be known as “a man after God’s own heart” is because he quickly and genuinely repented of his sins. Proverbs tells us:

• “He that regardeth reproof shall be honoured” (Proverbs 13:18). God will honor you if you love and obey godly reproof.
• “They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way. . . . For the turning away of the simple shall slay them” (Proverbs 1:30–32). If you turn a deaf ear to godly reproof, it will end up destroying you.
• “Reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23). Simply put, the convicting Word of God brings life.

If you are being probed by God’s Word—if His Spirit isn’t letting you sit comfortably in your sin—then you are being shown mercy. It is the deep love of God at work, wooing you out of death and into life.

Will you respond to Him as David did? If so, you’ll know true restoration and reconciliation. And God will restore everything the enemy has stolen.