The Expected One

“Are you the expected one, or shall we look for someone else?” Matthew 11:3

One of most unpredictable questions in the Bible was when John the Baptist was imprisoned. He was locked up and dependent on those who barely even knew him. They determined any freedom he might have…they determined what he would eat…they determined the timing of everything. His life was not his own as he sat on the cold floor hungry, lonely and searching. No doubt his mind was racing and although he had spent the biggest part of his life telling others about Jesus, he suddenly began questioning his own press. When John heard of all the wonderful deeds Jesus was doing, he sent his disciples to question Him. His question seems shocking to us…unexpected at best…unbelieving at worst. ‘Are you the expected one?’

But are we any different than John when we feel imprisoned by our circumstances? Isn’t it easy to say with our lips that ‘God is good’ when secretly in our hearts we wonder if He is even close by? When we begin to question the presence and power of Christ in us, we begin looking around for someone or something else to save the day. We set our eyes on individuals to save us instead of being watchmen for God’s delivery. We seek saviors in tangible items instead of seeking the One who saved us. We expect Christ to show up on our time frame and show up big!

‘Shall we look for someone else?’ The Bible promises that our search for the Savior will lead to one Man…one God…one Messiah. Anything other than Jesus along the road will disappoint… anything other than Jesus along the path will wither away…everything except for Jesus that we turn to will end up costing us. When our hearts begin to ponder whether Christ is really the one who can save us from our circumstances, we must replace our thoughts with truth. We must take captive our doubts before our doubts take captive of us. We must use God’s own words to encourage our hearts and remind us that the One who we are expecting is indeed the One who will triumph over these challenging times.