They had been taught by their parents the way they should approach God was by blood sacrifice. But Cain wanted to approach God his own way. He was not ignorant of the proper way to approach God. It had to be by blood sacrifice. Isn't that just like religion today? They want to approach God their own way, not the way that God has instituted and set up in His Word.
"But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect" (Gen. 4:5).
He had no respect for it because it was not a blood sacrifice. But Cain was very angry and offended and the Word says his countenance fell. Cain, by his own flesh and by his own will (not doing as his parents had instructed him), felt rejected. He thought that all of his hard work and his best efforts were not appreciated. He became offended at God because he didn't feel like God appreciated what he had done.
We have the same thing going on in the church today. The same feeling of not being appreciated. "Doesn't the Pastor know how hard I work around here? Don't they know how much I sacrifice, how much time I give up coming down here, working in the nursery, working in the children's church, working in Sunday School? Don't they know how much private time I give up in preparation for this?"
We have that same spirit in the Church, in the home, and in the workplace today - feeling like our efforts aren't appreciated. "Doesn't anyone see the hours I work?"
We have to be so careful, when we begin to have thoughts like that. It implies that you've been offended at some point. You have to continually put a guard and a watch over thoughts like this. Have you ever said, "I work around here and no one ever says thank you! No one ever pats me on the back"? You've been offended.
You can become offended when you see others being blessed or appreciated. When you feel like you should be receiving the praise or the promotion, but others are - you can be offended.
You could have the thought, "Well, I know I give as much as they do, in fact I give more! I tithe. I give. I sow. I'm always giving. Why are they being blessed and getting a new car when I've been standing in faith and believing for the new car?"
You have to become so careful that you don't allow those thoughts to come into your mind because at some point you'll become offended. We have to get the spirit of offense out of our heart and out of our mind and not fall into that trap that Satan has set up for us.
Offended At God
Looking at the life of Moses, you'll remember God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel, to set them free and bring them out of the bondage of Egypt and into the promised land. You know the story how he sent out the 12 spies and there were 10 that came back with a bad report and two that came back with a good report. And all the congregation of people began to murmur and complain.
If you go back and read that in context, they were offended at God. They said to Moses, "Why have you brought us out here to die?" Because they were offended at God, and they were offended at Moses, that generation never saw the land of promise (Num. 14:1-45).
I think that illustration reveals to us that if we become offended at God or anyone else, we'll never see our land of promise. We will never see what God has fully promised us, and we'll be continually held back from God's best for our lives.
We have to be a man or woman with a heart towards God who will forgive any offense that's been committed unto us. We cannot continue to harbor offense and unforgiveness in our heart. It doesn't matter what people say about you, or what people do against you. You cannot harbor offenses in your heart.
How many Christians do you know today who are offended at God? Possibly because they think God didn't come through for them. I know people who are offended at God because they had a loved one who was sick and wasn't healed of that sickness, and they became offended at God. They felt like God didn't hear their prayer. Or perhaps a loved one died, and they feel like God didn't answer their prayer, so the spirit of offense enters towards God.
There are a lot of variables in a situation like that, and we have to realize that it's not God's fault because maybe a particular prayer wasn't answered the way we felt it should have been answered. You cannot get offended at God.
There was a time in David's life when he became offended at God. He had to go out and pray, seek God and go before Him over a period of three months before he realized that it was he who had the problem and not God (2 Sam. 6:6-12). Well, let me save you the time and let you know right now: if you have offense in your heart towards God, it's not God's fault. It's you who needs to get that offense out immediately!
The Ones We Love Most
On a minute-by-minute basis, you have the opportunity to be offended. Usually, when an offense comes, it is by the person closest to you.
"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company" (Ps. 55:12-14).
The offense could be towards the one that you're married to. It could be that same person you're with everyday, in the car, at the dinner table, or on the pew every Sunday at church. There could even be an offense in your heart towards that person and you are totally unaware of it.
When I began digging deep into the Word of God and studying everything I could about the spirit of offense, I was amazed to find so much concerning this subject. Evidently, the spirit of offense is something that affects us all and has since the beginning of time.
You could get offended by something someone says to you, or it could even be the way a person looks at you - regardless of the manner in which you become offended, you must resist it like Jesus did.
Offended at the Man of God
There have been many people who have gotten offended at a minister because they didn't agree with the way in which he or she instructed them to do things. In a situation like that, you need to keep your mouth silent, don't voice your complaint to other members in the church, and pray until you feel a peace about your situation and how to handle it. Notice in the story of Naaman, he became offended at the man of God.
Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but he was also a leper. He wrote a letter to the King of Israel asking him for recovery from his leprosy. The King responded saying,
"Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?" (2 Kings 5:7).
Then Elisha, a man of God, said, "... Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha" (2 Kings 5:8).
Notice what offended Naaman:
"And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
"But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
"Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage." (2 Kings 5:10-12)
Naaman became so offended at the prophet because he didn't come out himself and pray over him. He was offended because he sent a messenger to tell him to dip in the Jordan River seven times.
Have you ever gotten offended because you wanted a meeting with the Pastor, but instead he had the Associate Pastor meet with you? It could have been because the Pastor had so many other meetings scheduled and was not able to fit you in that week, but you got offended over it. Naaman got offended because the prophet sent his assistant to meet with him.
Jesus Could Have Been Offended
Jesus is our ultimate example, and He even had the opportunity to be offended. His own mother and brothers called Him a lunatic.
"When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, He is out of His mind" (Mark, 3:21 NIV).
Then His brothers and His mother came and, standing outside, they sent word to Him, calling [for] Him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to Him, Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside asking for You. And He replied, Who are My mother and My brothers? And looking around on those who sat in a circle about Him, He said, See! Here are My mother and My brothers; For whoever does the things God wills is My brother and sister and mother! (Mark 3:31-35, AMP).
John 6:60 tells us that many of His own disciples left Him. They didn't agree with what He was teaching. Jesus was explaining to them that He was the bread from Heaven and whoever eateth of this bread shall live forever, and notice their reaction.
"When His disciples heard this, many of them said, This is a hard and difficult and strange saying (an offensive and unbearable message). Who can stand to hear it? [Who can be expected to listen to such teaching?]" (John 6:60, AMP).
"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:66, KJV).
These were disciples that had followed Jesus. They became offended at His message. Did Jesus have the right to be offended? Yes.
Judas, who had walked with Him for three years, betrayed Him. Peter denied Him, not just once, but three times. Notice what the Word says about Jesus' response to offense:
"For even to this were you called [it is inseparable from your vocation]. For Christ also suffered for you, leaving you [His personal] example, so that you should follow in His footsteps.
"He was guilty of no sin; neither was deceit (guile) ever found on His lips.
"When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return; [when] He was abused and suffered, He made no threats [of vengeance]; but He trusted [Himself and everything] to Him Who judges fairly" (1 Peter 2:21-23, AMP).
If anybody had the right to be offended, and to seek revenge, it was Jesus. But He didn't do that. He forgave.
"Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).
"And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:31-32, AMP).
For the most part, we're so quick to want revenge. We're so quick to have contention or to brawl or have passion, rage or a bad temper. None of us have ever experienced what Jesus experienced.
As we see Jesus hanging on the cross, we see people spitting in His face, pulling out His beard, driving nails in His hands and feet, jamming a crown of thorns in His skull. They were beating Him and slapping Him in the face, mocking Him, making fun of Him saying,
"Others You saved but Yourself You cannot save. If You truly are the Son of God, come down off the cross and save Yourself" (Authors paraphrase).
They humiliated Him by stripping Him of all of His clothing, naked for all the world to see. They fed Him vinegar and gall to drink, and He still forgave.
"Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]" (1 Peter 4:8, AMP).
When you think of your situation in comparison to Jesus', it really causes your "offense" to seem petty, doesn't it? Well, it's not petty to God. The hurt or the insult that you experienced is just as real to God as it is to you, and He wants to help you get it out of your heart so you can be what He has called you to be.
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Ministries International
Carolyn Savelle has an incredible testimony of growing up her entire life under the power and anointing of Jesus. She was reared in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she heard preachers such as Oral Roberts and William Branham. Throughout her life she has witnessed God's miraculous power.
