“And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.” (Mark 8:12)
He asked them why they were not able to understand the parables, the Lord Jesus Christ said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.” (Luke 9:41) Where is your faith, have I been so long with you that you still doubt?
Our Lord got frustrated at times, just like we do, and not because of inner conflicts, but because of people. If you have ever met someone who is extremely proficient at something, many times when they are attempting to explain what is simple to them to the unknowledgeable in that subject, they will, as the world calls it, lose their patience, become frustrated with those who cannot comprehend even the most basic constructs of what they are attempting to explain. Our Lord went through this often, and although He had compassion on many, it was not the only emotional trait He exhibited.
Jesus Christ is God, and God does not change, it is man that has attempted to change Him, by placing His love above all His other characteristics. Therefore, in the minds of many who call Him Lord, whenever anything happens to them that is disadvantageous to their wellbeing, they either see it as an act of Satan against them or search diligently for some sin they may have committed to explain away that unwanted event. Isaiah says, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:10)
Consider this, does the Lord ever bruise you because it pleases Him to do so?
In today’s form of what I will loosely call Christianity, love is the expected action of the Lord toward us, but that love is represented, at least in their perspective, by never being inconvenienced, no trials or tribulations, by life continuing uninterrupted by any undesirable events. Happy, healthy, wealthy, that means God loves you, or at least you are seen as favorable in His eyes. “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25)
As such, when life is going well, they serve, praise and offer thanksgiving, when circumstances arrive that they do not like, they question and search either for reasons for them, or abandon Him whom they say they serve and love altogether.
When Elijah asked the Lord to send fire down from heaven to prove to the people that they were serving false gods, the people automatically left those false preachers and turned to the Lord, but I ask you this, why were they serving them in the first place? What was it that they offered, what was the reason that those people who knew the Almighty left Him to serve other gods?
They praised God in the days of Moses when the manna first fell, and then complained shortly after that because that blessing was not enough. They followed the Lord Jesus Christ around, as long as He fed them and healed them. We say we love Him and serve Him as long as He gives us what we want, as long as life is going along as we want it to. Nothing changes. “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.” (Numb 11:33)
When the fire came down from heaven, they repented, when the wrath of God is poured out, people who say they serve the Lord will do one of two things, they will repent in dust and ashes, or they will question and leave Him for someone or something else that will serve them. It has always been thus, and it will happen again, perhaps sooner than many are expecting.
“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:” (Isaiah 55:6)
