Handling Our Doubts

John the Baptist was in prison. He had understood himself to be “Elijah,” the forerunner of the Messiah. He had understood Jesus to be one who would come to deliver Israel and had seen the Spirit of God descend on Jesus as God’s affirmation of the Messiah’s ministry.

But now, he had some doubts, some questions. Perhaps he missed the sky. Perhaps he missed the open air of the wilderness and the flow of the Jordan River where he had done all his preaching. After all, you don’t get out much when you are in prison. Perhaps he had been worn down by the injustice and the rough treatment of the guards who hated him and by the whispering of people who had known his legend but had never spoken to him or dared approach him along the Jordan.

In his gray cell there was no escape. He must have had a sense that his chapter was about to close. His disciple and friends often went and encouraged him, but he was in depth of despair. He was so sure Jesus was the chosen one, certain that he had found the Messiah, but now doubt began to plague him.

When you thing about it, it is easy to see why John the Baptist would start doubting. He had spent so much time preaching to crowds at the Jordan River, but now there were no crowds, no purpose, no waster in which to baptize someone. Perhaps there were a few guards he told to repent, but they may even have understood. So he began to wonder if his ministry had any real meaning.

So he sent some of his disciples to find Jesus and ask him if here really was the Messiah. They may have been shocked that he would even ask, that he would now doubt everything he preached, but they went — and John waited.

Then they returned and related to John what Jesus had told them: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

John’s doubt were answered. He had been sifted. Sometimes we too are sifted by our doubts. We really cannot avoid questions and doubts. The real question is: What do we do with our doubts? What do you do with your doubts? Will you let God sift you, so that, like John, you come out stronger?