It was cold and damp and depressing in that dark dungeon. Foreboding shadows worked strange patterns across the floor and walls of the cell. John was a man of the desert, free as the wind and captivity was unspeakably grievous for him. Time passed slowly in the shadows of the prison during his lonely struggle with doubt.
Rumours were flying, tongues were wagging and John's disciples brought him reports. He heard bits and pieces, fragments; but not detailed information, not enough to meet his deep, inner needs. He heard that the slave of a Gentile had been healed, a widow's son had been brought back to life and much more. But where was the forerunner of the Messiah, the one prophesied in Scripture, the one who baptized Jesus?
In prison; and absolutely nothing was being done for him!
John's disciples convey a message to Jesus; the hurting questions of a very troubled spirit, a message from a disappointed friend.
Are You really the One?
If You are, have You abandoned me?
John must have been thinking, "I paved the way for You, I told the people to follow You instead of me, I told them that You were God's sacrificial Lamb. I've heard that You have fed and healed and helped countless people but you haven't lifted a finger to help me!"
Had John been expecting Jesus to burst into the prison, set him free and destroy his persecutors? Did he think the miraculous power of Jesus would be used to strike a blow for freedom? John was counting on the intervention of Jesus to rescue him and when it didn't happen, fear began to grow in his mind. Oh the torment of such fear!
John's disciples didn't receive an immediate reply from Jesus. They stood in the crowd and watched the line of sick people file past. They saw every kind of terrible need: diseases, infirmities, plagues. No one came to Him in vain. They saw not only His healing but His compassion. It wasn't the answer they'd been expecting.
Why didn't Jesus say clearly, "Yes, I Am the One?" What did He say?
"Report what you've seen to John." What had they seen? Miracles!
What kind of miracles? The kind prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures regarding Messiah. Rather than defend Himself, Jesus used the familiar words of Scripture, words which foretold that Messiah would do exactly what John's disciples had seen Jesus doing. His purpose was to reassure John, not to condemn him and not to vindicate Himself. Jesus will never put down or berate a troubled friend in his struggle with doubt and fear.
Had John been hoping for a personal message? The message was impersonal, there was no direct encouragement; and yet it was so effective. As John pondered these words from the 35th chapter of Isaiah, his mind leaped ahead to verse 10. That was enough for John.
God was not bested because John was in jail and John knew that he would never be forgotten or forsaken. Think of the tremendous power of God's Word! That's why, no matter how we feel, we should never stop reading it. The other part of the message talked about things like blessed and happy. Strange words for a man facing execution. What does it mean?
Our joy and satisfaction are to be because of God's favour, entirely apart from outward conditions.
It's marvellous and true that we can actually know God, talk to Him, be sure of His love and favour. John had nearly stumbled because he didn't understand the ways of Providence. Surely One Who could raise the dead could rescue him from prison! There was no rescue and darker trials lay before him. But John would not stumble again because,
"Blessed is He," -- with a blessing known only to those who are not offended in Him, who do not take offence at God's dealings with them.
There was a shadow-filled time ... one of the darkest periods of my life. We really wanted children so, because I'd had several miscarriages, we applied to adopt. After we'd had Robin for 10 months and Jim for 7 months, the adoption could not be finalized and the children were taken from us. Our hearts were broken and I thought my husband was going to have a heart-attack. We never did have any children and the heartache never completely goes away.
My Mother's brother, who was the closest thing I'd ever known to a father, died.
In less than 10 months I was in hospital 5 times and had 3 major surgeries. Unwittingly I had become addicted to a pain-killing drug.
Pain - pills - pain - pills - addiction! This was undetected until morphine failed to ease the pain after my final surgery. I went through all the horrors of withdrawal with its terrifying hallucinations. My body was unable to perform its normal functions and I was sure I was losing my mind. I came to the place where I knew I was dying. BUT GOD!
I was never able to find my father, even in his old age, although I tried after my Mother died. The past, with all its loneliness and rejection, remains unchanged.
BUT ... it was during this dark time that I began to know God in a way that I never dreamed was possible. Before this my Christianity consisted largely of knowing I'd go to Heaven at death and in the meantime, striving to please God. How very different from deep, personal relationship and growing intimacy with a Heavenly Father Who will never go away, never forsake, never abandon, never reject, never let down.
Satan went into Heaven and prayed. He requested that he might have you to sift as wheat and his request was granted. The big thing is that Satan's purpose in sifting is to destroy the valuable wheat and spare only the useless chaff. But God's purpose in allowing the sifting, is to get rid of any useless chaff and preserve the precious wheat to be planted and to produce a harvest of peace and righteousness.
Of course we know whose purpose will win because Jesus Christ has prayed for you that your faith fail not. His prayer is all that makes this sifting understandable and bearable. If Satan is sifting you, you will never fall farther than the prayers of our Great Intercessor.
It's easy to doubt, to stumble, to be offended when our circumstances are so dreadful. We hope and pray for Divine intervention which never seems to come. At such a time God wants to lead us deeper in the experience of faith. If only we will trust Him and not be offended, the Lord will lead us into joy and fulfillment beyond our wildest dreams. The cup that is brimming with pain, will overflow with joy.