Things That Lead Us to Doubt

When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. 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?"

Have you ever run into a problem that has "pulled the rug out from under you"? A boss that you have liked at a job you have enjoyed and received awards at comes in on Friday and says, "Clean out your desk. Security is here to escort you out." At a regular physical, your doctor in a very calm and reassuring voices tells you, "I would like for you to see a specialist about something." Or, a spouse that you have been married to for over 20 years comes over on Friday afternoon and says, "I don't love you anymore. I'll be moving out tomorrow. I'm going to a hotel tonight." I would call any of these as struggles. These are the pains and sufferings that we live through. I don't want to think about any of these situations, but I personally know people who have lived through or living through these things. Anyone of these would take me to a crisis of belief.

John the Baptist had seen first hand and had known who Jesus was (Matthew 3:13-17). John was now in the middle of difficulty. He was isolated, alone, and in prison. His situation was bleak. He had to be experiencing some doubt by this question. My personal rephrasing of the problem is, "If you are truly Christ and are capable of all of these miraculous deeds, then why am I stuck in prison?"

We ask Jesus similar questions in our times of doubt. "Lord, don't you care?" "What about me?" "Why don't you answer?" We struggle with “if God is God” and if He is the God of true love then how can He allow me to suffer and struggle like this? If we don't understand suffering, we will be shocked, devastated, and angered when adversity strikes. And it will hit! What we believe shapes what we say to ourselves and to others. If we think wrong, we will say wrong, resorting to clichés or not saying anything at all.

So, what is the right belief about suffering? Why do I suffer? First things first; you aren't God. You do not get to decide what is good, what is right, and what is proper. When Job questioned God, the LORD cross examed him beginning with, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?Job 38:2" We have no knowledge so why do we believe that we understand? That is our error in trying deal with suffering. Often we think this misleading idea that our most significant problem is our suffering, and the removal of it would be God’s greatest blessing. We try to understand what only God does. We are not without answers though. The Apostel Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 that the Lord comforts us in all our affliction. And He doesn't do that for no reason. He comforts us so that we can comfort each other. We are also told that when we suffer we are sharing in Christ's sufferings.

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