Matthew 11: 3
“Are you the expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”
In Matthew 3, verse 11, are recorded the words of John the Baptist when he prophesied about the coming of Jesus. John said, “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Then when Jesus did come, he (Jesus) went down to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. John at first refused Jesus saying to him to him, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” Matthew 3: 14. John knew who was coming before Jesus began his ministry. He knew the Holy One was on his way. Then when Jesus did appear to him, he recognized Jesus and who he was; as the one who was to come. He knew this was the one about whom so many prophecies had been made and he wanted Jesus to baptize him instead of the other way around.
It is one thing to believe and have faith and then it is another to keep believing and keep having faith. It can be hard to keep on believing when the pressure of the world starts bearing in on you. Would anyone think that John the Baptist, the one about whom Jesus said, “[T]here has not arisen anyone greater,” (Matthew 11: 11) could fall into doubt? And yet that is exactly what happened. Today’s text is what John the Baptist later asked Jesus via John’s disciples.
You see, John the Baptist had faith in Jesus until he found himself in jail. Now all of a sudden, things were not going to well. John began to look at the conditions around himself instead of at the Word of God which was in his heart. John was trying to use his eyes to convince his faith. Instead he should have been using his faith to convince his mind. He expected Jesus to build a kingdom on this earth. When he did not see this kingdom unfolding the way he expected it to, he began to lose his faith; to have doubts.
Many times God will not do things the way we expect him to. That does not mean that he is not building his kingdom or that he is not fulfilling his promises. You cannot look around you for verification and then choose to believe God. It happens just the other way around. Do not use your eyes. Use your heart. That is where you plant the Word of God and you believe from your heart no matter what your eyes tell you. Then, when you have believed with your heart, you will see God’s victory coming into your life. Do not let doubt arise. Keep it down and your faith up.
