One of the things I've learned is, when you're in pressure, in difficulty, as much as lies within you, bring it into relationship and connection; don't withdraw. How many of you know someone like that? Oh yeah [laughs] okay then. Here's another one, number two: Don't harbour resentment; don't harbour resentment and blame in your heart. Now if we read in John 11:21; Martha, when she heard Jesus was coming, went and met Him, and Mary was sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus: Lord, if You'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Now you've got to realise what's happened. Martha and Mary are sweating it out, over the sickness that the brother has. They've sent a message out to Jesus, and guess what? Jesus doesn't reply. He not only doesn't reply, He doesn't do anything either. He just remains where He is, and refuses to respond; and it seems to them, or it seems to Martha anyway, Jesus doesn't seem to care about her. It seems to her like, He's just ignoring her. It seems like He's rejecting her, and this is their time of need. Remember they're the friends of Jesus, He's been in their home, He's been for meals with them, He's stayed with them, they are His friends - and yet when they need His help the most, the one who healed everyone else, didn't heal their brother. In fact he died, they'd had a funeral, he was buried, and they were all in the grieving stage.
Now you can understand, for her, God was silent; and now Jesus turns up. She's not exactly very happy, and what's in her heart comes out of her mouth; she said: if You'd been here, then he wouldn't have died. Now notice this, she's putting blame on Jesus, that the death of the brother came about, because He failed to do something. There's resentment and blame in her heart. When we get knocked around or disappointed, or suffer a grief in our life, and God does not seem to be talking to us; it's very easy, out of the grief, to them want to blame someone for what's happened. So the moment Jesus came, they started to blame Him. Don't blame! Blame leaves you a victim. Blame stops you actually exploring: what is it, I need to do or grow in, this particular time.
Here's a third thing then, here's another one. Luke Chapter 7:20-23, and this is John the Baptist. John the Baptist went through a bit of a painful situation, and he was cautioned by Jesus. Now in this particular situation, John has gone out preaching the gospel, he's gone out proclaiming Jesus is the coming saviour, He's the lamb of God, he's had this revelation about who Jesus is; and now he's stood up, and he confronted Herod and his wife, that their marriage was wrong, and it was out of order; and for his speaking the truth, he's thrown into jail. So he's sitting there in jail, and he's awaiting death. He knows now he's stuck in jail; but the messiah is here, Jesus is here, and here's the problem: He's not speaking or doing anything. Now you can understand, for someone who's in prison who's facing death, when God does not seem to be speaking or doing anything, that is very distressing. Here's the warning that Jesus gave. Jesus spoke, and told the disciples, in Verse 22: tell John the things you've seen and heard - the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them; and blessed is he, who is not offended because of Me.
Now why did they go to Him? They went to ask this question: are You the one we've been looking for? Now John knew that Jesus was the one, he got revelation; but he became hurt inside, that Jesus had failed to get him out of jail. He become upset that God had not rescued him out of a difficult problem. In fact actually, the Bible makes it very clear, he ended his days in that jail - his head was taken off. Now here's the thing: For him, he fully expected that Jesus would rescue him somehow out of the jail; and when Jesus didn't, the warning that came to him was this. Here's the warning, because he was starting to doubt the revelation he'd received. He's going, and now instead of saying this: is the one; he's saying: are you the one? So when we are in a difficult situation, and God doesn't seem to be speaking, it is very easy to harbour these two things: to harbour doubt about what God last said to us; and to feel offended, that He hasn't responded to our need; doubt about what God last said. Remember, he got revelation about who Jesus was. Now he's doubting the revelation he got. It's very easy, when you're in a difficult situation, it seems like you're in prison, it seems like the walls have closed in, it seems like there's no way out. It's very easy in a situation like that, to begin to doubt what God has been speaking to you; and easy to become offended with God, and build a wall of resentment or resistance. Don't harbour offence!