Hello again!
This is what God gave me today in His word:
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. (Matthew 11:2-5)
John, the very same John that proclaimed Jesus to be, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” [John 1:29], is now having doubts. It can really be quite easy to trust in God during good times. When the sun is shining, and you’ve got every luxury that you could want, it’s easy to believe their’s some sort of benevolent God out there that’s looking out for you. Granted, John, the locust and honey eater, wasn’t exactly living the high life when he called Christ, “the Lamb of God”, but neither was he suffering too severely. He had food, clothes, and was fulfilling God’s will for His life. Which is more than many can claim. It’s the times of trial which God gives us when it can become difficult to believe God really cares.
Doubting God, whether it’s just doubting His promises, or doubting that He even exists, is a normal part of being a Christian. Jesus doesn’t rebuke John for his momentary bit of doubt, but instead, tells him that He is indeed the, “one who is to come”. Specifically, he told John’s disciples, who told John, “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”
Now, we can add another thing to that list: the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them, and we have been given grace immeasurable. Doubts are an unavoidable part of Christianity for both the old and young Christian, and can very seriously affect a Christian, but that doesn’t make them true. All we have to do is look at the five thousand that Jesus appeared before when He was Resurrection, to know that God most certainly is real, and that He without a doubt does fulfill His promises (God promised that a deliverer would come, and He did).
The point being this: All we have to do is look at the grace which we have received by Jesus’ death and Resurrection to have any doubts we may have be dispelled.
You are Loved!
Joshua Cleveland
