Doubts? You're in Good Company.

John the Baptist was moved upon by God to introduce his Son to the world. He told the people to repent of their sins and that the Messiah was coming soon. Finally, the day came when he met Jesus:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I was talking about when I said, 'A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.' I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel." 

Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, 'The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One."
 John 1:29-34

Later on, King Herod arrested John and threw him in prison because he had told the king it was unlawful for him to have Herodias as a wife, since she was the wife of Herod's brother. So, John was in prison waiting for the Messiah to take charge of the kingdom of Israel. This is what all the people believed about the Messiah - that he would set up his kingdom on earth. But this didn't happen and John began doubting.

John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"  Matthew 11:2,3

Although John had seen the Spirit of God come as a dove and heard the voice of God say, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased," he now doubted. He didn't understand why Jesus was wandering around preaching instead of taking over the kingdom from the evil Herod. He was determined to find out so he sent his friends to ask Jesus.

Don't we sometimes find ourselves doing the same thing? Life doesn't go the way we think it should; tragic things happen and we wonder why. Sometimes we question the mercy and goodness of God because He doesn't do what we think he should. These kind of doubts have bothered people from Job to David and their doubts are recorded for us to read and learn from. 

To be continued...