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Are you walking through a difficult situation right now? Have you been calling out to God … but He doesn’t seem to be answering? Are you feeling like Jesus has abandoned you? If so, you’re not alone. Many of us have been there at some point – including some whom we might least expect.
John the baptizer was a man of conviction and courage – the greatest of the prophets.(1) He came in the spirit and power of Elijah(2) and even dressed and ministered like him.(3) Like Elijah, John had a message of judgment for the entire nation of Israel. The prophet Isaiah had foretold John’s coming.(4) John’s ministry was to prepare the nation for Jesus and present Jesus to the nation. He had been sent to earth with a pretty impressive mandate from God.
But suddenly he found himself being “unjustly” imprisoned by Herod Antipas for denouncing the tetrarch’s adulterous marriage to Herodias.(5) No one was advocating for his release. It was as if no one cared. You would have thought that the Jewish leaders would have been up in arms defending John’s position and denouncing Herod’s action. After all, adultery was a sin – and they were the “keepers” and “enforcers” of God’s Laws.
Yet, they were silent. John had honored Jesus through his preaching and proclaimed Him to be the Messiah. Since the pharisees hated Jesus, anyone who was His supporter or follower was also their enemy. And John hadn’t been all that gracious to them either. He had never been one to cater to the crowds, let alone the pharisees. No, the religious establishment had no interest in speaking up on his behalf.
And now, despite his mandate from God Himself, it seemed as if even heaven was ignoring him. His voice had been silenced behind the walls of a prison. He could not preach to the crowds from a jail cell. This voice with a divine mandate to proclaim was being muffled in prison. Understandably, he became discouraged, and perhaps even broken. He was calling out to God without receiving an answer. So, he decided to send a message to Jesus.
John’s disciples had been watching Jesus and keeping John apprised of His movements, His miracles and His message. It’s very likely that John was expecting Jesus to, at any moment, declare His authority as the Messiah, establish His kingdom and His government, and free the nation from Roman rule. John was anticipating that any day now the Messiah would begin His reign and the door to his prison cell would swing wide open and he would be set free.
John was probably trying to understand why Jesus was taking so long to assume the throne. That was his context when he sent the message to Jesus: “Are You the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”(6)
Bear in mind, John wasn’t the only one with that question. More than likely, it was a common question running through the minds of most of those who were following Jesus at the time – including the twelve disciples. Even the way the Pharisees felt threatened by who Jesus was, largely resulted from the fact that He didn’t look anything like the Messiah they were selfishly expecting! Everyone had a picture in their mind of who and what the Messiah would look like – and Jesus didn’t look like that picture! Even John the baptizer was beginning to doubt!
Jesus told John’s messengers, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen….” Tell him, “… the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”(7)
Jesus was using the very words of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote – “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you. And when He comes, He will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!’”(8)
Through those words, Jesus was sending John a word of encouragement – not a word of rebuke. When He added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of Me,”(9) He was reminding John of something else Isaiah had written:
He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah, He will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem, He will be a trap and a snare. Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again. They will be snared and captured.” Preserve the teaching of God; entrust His instructions to those who follow me. I will wait for the Lord, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in Him.(10)
Though Jesus would be a stumbling stone to Israel and Judah, He would not cause those to stumble who trust Him! Songwriters Babbie Mason and Eddie Carswell communicated that message well when they wrote the lyric, “when you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart” (see the complete lyrics to the song “Trust His Heart” below).
As we walk with the Master in 2021, we, too, will encounter circumstances that we never expected, and we certainly don’t understand. We were expecting the Lord to do one thing in our life – and He does something totally different – or He allows something totally different – which is at best, disappointing – or at worst, tragic. He doesn’t look anything like we think God should look like. He hasn’t done what we think He should do.
We may be like John. We know the Scriptures. We know the promises of God … but we just got “sucker-punched” … and we don’t understand! The pain, the sorrow, the devastation, and the disappointment are causing us to question Jesus. It is causing us to ask, “Jesus, are You really who I think You are? If so, how could you allow this to occur? Are You the One to follow or should I keep looking for someone else?”
In that moment, Jesus has a message for us as well – trust My heart!
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This post is adapted from Walking With The Master, chapter 25, entitled “Even John Doubted”. This fourth book in the Lessons Learned In The Wilderness series is available through Amazon in print and for your e-reader. Click HERE for more information on how you can obtain your copy.
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(1) Matthew 11:11
(2) Luke 1:17
(3) 2 Kings 1:7-8, Matthew 3:4
(4) Isaiah 40:3
(5) Luke 3:19-20
(6) Matthew 11:3
(7) Matthew 11:4-5
(8) Isaiah 35:4-6
(9) Matthew 11:6
(10) Isaiah 8:14-17
Copyright © 2021 Kenneth A. Winter All rights reserved.
Photo by Natalie Vic Herregods on Unsplash
Trust His Heart
All things work for our good
Though sometimes we don't see
How they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth
Our Father knows what's best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just don't see Him,
Remember you're never alone
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart
Trust His Heart
He sees the master plan
And he holds our future in His hand,
So don't live as those who have no hope,
All our hope is found in Him
We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and the last
And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me,
To someday be just like Him
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart
He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart
When you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart
Trust His Heart
Songwriters: Babbie Y. Mason / Eddie Carswell
Trust His Heart lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.