He Said Not A Word

“When the men came to Jesus, they said, ‘John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else…’ ‘Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk…the deaf hear, the dead are raised…Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.’” Luke 7:20-23

Boy, does this passage make me squirm! John has been incarcerated for rebuking King Herod for entering into an unlawful marriage with his brother Philip’s wife. It looked as if all hope was lost of John ever enjoying life without imprisonment. John the Baptist sends his messengers to Jesus to basically say, ‘I hear that you are doing all kinds of miracles in the land and delivering many people from many situations. What about me? Where is my deliverance? Where is my rescue from my situation?’

How many times have we thought in our hearts and minds these questions? How many times have we heard ourselves utter those words from our lips? ‘Where are you God? Where is my miracle? Where is my healing? I know you can but why don’t you?’ My commentary states it best:

“So John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He were really the Messiah…It may seem strange to us that John should ever question Jesus’ Messiahship. But we must remember that the best of men suffer brief lapses of faith….C.G. Moore says: I know of no hours more trying to faith than those in which Jesus multiplies evidences of His power and does not use it. There is need of much grace when the messengers come back saying: ‘Yes, He has all the power, and is all that you have thought; but He said not a word about taking you out of prison…’ No explanation; faith nourished; prison doors left closed; and then the message, ‘Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in men.’ That is all!” p. 1393

How this breaks my heart for the forerunner of Christ. He had given his all, had been faithful to end, and had lived his entire life for the purpose of God…and yet, he did not receive…was not rescued…was not a miracle recipient in the earthly form. With both my sister and my dad ‘He said not a word.’ For 8 years with my daughter’s drug addiction, ‘He said not a word.’ With my father-in-laws disease of Alzheimer’s, ‘He said not a word.’ Is there something in your life that ‘He said not a word.’

We must believe with all of our hearts than when God is silent or fails to give us our miracle there is greater work being accomplished in the heavenlies by our circumstances. I must believe that the deaths of my dad and sister were crucial in the Kingdom of God. We cannot allow a resolution to determine whether we recognize Christ in our lives. Our faith must be in His will, His work and His purposes apart from outcomes in our situations.

‘He said not a word’ but I knew He was there. Let us be blessed by trusting God in His ultimate wisdom and sovereignty.