John the Baptist was the forerunner for Jesus
with his sole purpose in life being to spread the message of the coming
Messiah. From sunrise to sunset his
proclamations were drenched of hope in a future Savior…every word always about Jesus!
Then one day the darkness overtook John’s life as he was imprisoned by
Herod and thrown into the dark despair of a cold and damp prison. His message continued I am sure of a Savior
who would rescue, would bring justice to light and deliver him from his present
suffering. His message began loud and confident
but over the weeks or months there was less confidence in his voice. The passion and zeal that had filled his days
were replaced with doubts, discouragement and second guessing. Prolonged suffering had clouded the truth of
his heart. ‘Where is the Savior? When will he come? Has he forgotten me? Was that even Him?’ He even sent this heart wrenching message
through others which haunts my heart for him…for you…for me. ‘…or should we expect someone else?’ He began to doubt the very person of Jesus.
How often we are forerunners of the message of hope, faith
and God’s rescuing love. From sunrise to
sunset the words on our lips testify to our intellectual faith until we are
thrown into dark circumstances…the phone call, the diagnosis, or the
injustices. We cry out to God to intervene,
to heal, or to move the mountain that is too big to climb. Our prayers are laced with hope and
deliverance in a Savior, but as time goes on our bleeding hearts wonder the
same question, ‘Are You my Savior or
shall I turn to something else?’ Jesus
responded to John’s question with a statement, ‘Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me’
(Matthew 11:6). Instead of keys to the
earthly release, John got keys to the kingdom of the Savior. He had not invested in the wrong Savior - he was
just mistaken about the wrong kingdom. John
believed that Jesus would set His kingdom on earth which will happen at the end
of time. But we know through Scripture
that we belong to the heavenly kingdom with Christ. ‘Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a
building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed
with our heavenly dwelling…and know that as long as we are at home in the body
we are away from the Lord.’ 2 Co. 5:1-6.
No matter what heart wrenching circumstances which you find
yourself in this morning, you can have complete confidence that the God you
worship is the Savior who will deliver.
He is who you think He is and nothing will separate you from His
love. He will rescue each of us from
our prisons and will bless us for our seasons of suffering just as He did
John. ‘I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than
John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he’
Luke 7:28.
We never have to question whether God will be our Savior...His track record is perfect!
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