Have you ever seen a miracle? Not just luck or good circumstances, but an event that can only be explained by God’s power. Have you ever prayed for a miracle to happen? I have. Have you ever prayed for a miracle and it didn’t happen? I have done that too.
I think a really good story to look at is the life of John the Baptist. John was the cousin of Jesus and according to scripture, he was sent before Jesus to prepare the world for the coming Messiah. John taught that the Messiah had come to anyone who would listen. He even challenged government officials who were breaking God’s law, which found John in prison. John was in prison for doing exactly what God sent him to do. Meanwhile, Jesus began his ministry on earth.
Jesus and his disciples were traveling all over and thousands of people were being healed and coming to faith. Jesus was healing the blind, the deaf, and the lame. He was healing and caring for the weak and poor around him, all while his cousin was sitting in prison.
In Matthew 11, John doubted Jesus. I don’t blame him at all. I really empathize with John on this one. His cousin who happens to be the son of God is healing and caring for strangers by the thousands and he is stuck in prison. It seems like just about everyone was getting a miracle, except for him. With just one word, Jesus could set John free, but he never did it. So, understandably, John started to doubt.
Real talk. I think we can all relate to this. To some degree we have allowed our faith to be tied to our circumstances. It is almost like our faith existed only when things around us made sense. We probably have all had situations in our lives that have caused us to question our faith. When we see hard things happen, we may ask God “why?”.
Why would God allow wars? Why would God allow kids to be abused? Why would God allow *fill in the blank* to happen?
If God is all-powerful, all knowing, and if he is a sovereign and he is capable of intervening, why doesn’t he? We all look out into the world, and we don’t understand why certain things happen or exist, but if we are going to be real, it is not those things that wreck our faith. We may be affected or sad that it happens. We may question. We may even genuinely pray for those situations to be resolved, but those far away things don’t wreck our faith. The things that wreck our faith are the things that happen to us or in close proximity to us.
When things that make me question “why God” happen TO ME, or in my proximity, that is when I doubt. That is when I question the goodness of God, because doubt is about me. Doubt, at its core, is selfish.
Thousands of people on the other side of the world may be greatly affected by some natural disaster. It makes me sad and I may pray, genuinely, for them. But, if KOURTNEY is betrayed or hurt, or if someone I love gets a diagnosis, or if my mental health sinks again, that is when I have doubted the goodness of God. I question his power and his intention. Sometimes I may have questioned if he has left me to fend for myself. Sometimes, if I am brutally transparent, I may have even questioned his existence.
Someone else’s unbearable circumstances rarely cause us to doubt the power, goodness, faithfulness, and love of God. I think the root of that is because when bad things happen to us, we feel like God is holding out on us. We feel like he forgot about us. We feel like he abandoned us.
Whatever it is we go through, whatever pain or circumstance we experience limits our ability to see past ourselves. The pain we experience shrinks our ability to see beyond ourselves. When you are in pain, and I am in pain it is almost impossible to focus on anything else except what you are experiencing at that moment. And truthfully, this is a place I have been in, and this is probably a place you have been in too.
The pain we experience can distort our ability to reconcile what we are experiencing here in this moment with what we believe, what we have been told to believe about God, and what we have wanted to believe about God.
And I think that was the same for John. I think John had every reason to be upset. John had been sent to prepare God’s people for the messiah. Without him, no one would have recognized Jesus as the son of God. John did everything right and he suffered for it.
I think that is something we can also relate too. We do everything right and check all the boxes. We do exactly what we are supposed to do, but it seems like everyone else is getting all the blessings. While you are stuck in your own prison, it can feel like everyone else is getting their miracle.
John doubted so he sent two disciples to Jesus and asked if he really was the son of God. If he really was the messiah. I think Jesus’ response in Matthew 11:4 is not expected. Jesus didn’t get mad that John doubted and he didn’t correct him either. Jesus responds in verse 4 like this, “Go back and report to John what you see and hear.”
Jesus was well aware of John’s situation. He knew that John would die in that prison. But, the message back to John was to see what was happening beyond what he could see. Jesus knew that John could only see through the lens of his own pain and suffering so he prompted John to look beyond. Jesus didn’t want John to have a faith that was based on his circumstances. He wanted John to see the bigger picture. He wanted John to see that there was purpose in his pain.
Jesus sent two of the disciples back to John, but look at what Jesus says next in verse 11. “Truly I say to you, there has never been one greater than John the Baptist.” Jesus loved John and still chose to not rescue him. John’s situation did not define how God felt about him or how he viewed John.
It’s the same for you and me.
My circumstance does not define how God feels about me. Your situation does not define how God sees you. God sees us and loves us. He cares for us. Jesus was telling John to not allow his circumstances to define what was true about him and look up to the father. He wanted John to look beyond his immediate situation and remember what led him to love Jesus to begin with.
I’ve prayed for miracles and God has chosen to not send one. It is hard to be in that space. It is hard to feel like you are stuck in pain and hard things, but that is when God urges us to look beyond our immediate circumstance. You may not be getting the miracle you are praying for right now, but miracles are happening around us. Remember all the things that have happened in your life. Remember the reason you believed in the first place. God wants us to invite him into that pain so we can see beyond it and ultimately, he can define our circumstances.
I think that is what I want people to see in me. That regardless of my struggle or pain and regardless of my circumstances, I cling to what I know to be true about God. The truth of God’s love and care for me is what can sustain me in the hardest of times. The solution to your circumstances and the strength to get through it will only be found by faith in who God is.
God cares about you and me.
He loves us and cares about where we are at.
When struggle comes, he will meet us there.
KM