Things to remember when you're doubting - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/things-to-remember-when-youre-doubting/
Pastor Greg Laurie asks, 'Has it ever seemed as though God had let you down?'
Has it ever seemed as though God had let you down? Has something happened that caused you to wonder where God was? Did you need an answer from him, only to be left wondering why he was silent? He could have done something and resolved your situation, but it seemed as though God was sitting on his hands or not even paying attention. And it caused you to entertain doubt.
If you have ever felt that way, you're not alone. The Bible tells the story of a man of God who had his doubts - and he was not just any man of God. He was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist.
In his day, John the Baptist was a national celebrity. In fact, the ancient historian Josephus wrote more about the life and ministry of John the Baptist than he did about Jesus Christ. Why was John so significant? By the time John was born, no one in Israel had heard from a prophet or had seen a miracle or had witnessed even one angelic appearance for 400 years. And then, seemingly out of nowhere (but right on schedule), John arrived on the scene, preparing the way for the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a colorful character John was, wearing animal skins and eating locusts and wild honey. He was an outdoorsy guy, a man's man. If he were alive today, I think he would fit in perfectly on "Duck Dynasty."John was absolutely fearless in calling out the Pharisees and the professionally religious who had been more or less directing the people. Talk about offending a lot of people quickly - that was John. He was fearless. And he had a mission, which was to prepare the way for the Messiah. He was the voice crying in the wilderness, telling people to prepare the way of the Lord.
One day Jesus arrived at the Jordan River and asked John to baptize him. As he came out of the water, God spoke from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17 NKJV).
Effectively John's work was done. He had completed his mission. He told his own disciples to follow Jesus. He said, in effect, "I am done. You follow Him."
But then John, as his normal, outspoken self, got himself into some big trouble. He spoke out against King Herod. Herod liked John because John would actually tell him the truth. Very few people would do that, and for good reason. If you spoke the truth to King Herod, you might die as a result.
Ultimately John would die because of his boldness with King Herod. He told Herod that the relationship he was involved in was immoral. Herod had married Herodias, who was already married to Herod's brother. To make matters even worse, Herodias was Herod's niece. So John said, in effect, "This is wrong. This is sinful. This is immoral."
Herod had John thrown into prison, which was bad for anyone. But as a guy who was accustomed to the outdoors, this was almost a fate worse than death. John may have consoled himself with the thought that Jesus the Messiah had started his ministry and would overthrow the tyranny of Rome. He probably expected Jesus to spring him out of prison any day. John had the commonly held view that when the Messiah came, he would establish a kingdom right then and there. It was a misunderstanding about the mission of the Messiah.
As it turned out, Jesus was not leading a revolt. He and his disciples had not taken up arms. In fact, word got back to John that Jesus was eating and drinking with sinners and tax collectors. (Tax collectors worked in collusion with Rome.) In John's mind, things were not going according to plan. Did he get this wrong somehow? Was Jesus actually the Messiah? Wasn't the Messiah supposed to establish a kingdom of righteousness?
This is because John was seeing things B.C. - before Calvary. Calvary would solve and answer everything. The Scriptures clearly taught that before the Messiah established his righteous reign on earth, he would suffer and die on a cross. It was spoken of very specifically in passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, hundreds of years before it happened. Before there was a throne, there would be a cross.
We can be critical of John, but haven't we done the same thing? Sometimes we feel as though God is letting us down, that He isn't being true to His Word. But we have a misunderstanding of who God is. The problem is that we often interpret God in the light of the tragedy instead of the other way around.
In his moment of doubt, John called out to Jesus (which is what we need to do when we have doubts). He sent some friends to Jesus with a question: "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3 NKJV).
Jesus could have become angry with John. He could have said, "Oh really? I can't believe that John doubted!" But Jesus didn't do that. Instead, He sent back a message for the prophet: "Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen - the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, 'God blesses those who do not turn away because of me'" (Matthew 11:4-6 NKJV).
Here is what Jesus was saying to John and, in effect, to any person who is dealing with doubt today: "Even if you don't understand my methods or my ways or my timing, I am asking you to trust me. When you are unable to see why I am doing what I am doing or why I am not doing what you think I ought to be doing, all I am asking you to do is to follow me."
In that final day when we stand before God, we are going to realize that Jesus never sat on his hands. Those hands were nailed to a cross, where he died for our sins. In that day, we will understand why God did or did not do what we thought he should do. But until that day, he wants us to trust and follow him.
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