When You Can’t Understand, Trust God
But what if your path leads through pain, pressure, and problems? John the Baptists did. He didn’t deserve imprisonment. After all, he was the forerunner of Christ and the voice of God in the community. Plus, he was Jesus’ cousin. So he sent Jesus a message asking, ‘Are you really the Messiah, or should we keep looking?’ Paraphrased: ‘Lord, if I’m in your will, how come I’m in this situation?’ It’s a question motivated by unfulfilled expectations. We think, ‘Lord, I’ve obeyed you, how come things aren’t working out for me?’ And it feels worse when you’ve faithfully served Him. Writing about her daughter’s death, Meg Woodson says, ‘I’ll never forget those shrill, piercing screams; that the God who could have helped, looked down on this young woman who was devoted to Him…and decided to sit on His hands and let her death top the horror charts.’ Talk about unmet expectations! Jesus could have saved John, but He didn’t. Instead He sent back word: ‘Don’t worry, everything’s on target, the kingdom is being built. You did your job well’ (Matthew 11:4-5 paraphrase). It probably wasn’t the answer John hoped for. He was looking for solutions to temporal problems while Jesus was busy establishing an eternal kingdom. So next time God doesn’t seem to meet your expectations, it’s not that He
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