In Luke chapter 7, we encounter our last lesson from the life of John the Baptizer. From his prison cell in Herod’s palace, John calls two of his disciples and asks them to go to Jesus on his behalf to ask a question, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? (Luke 7:19)” In that dark wet prison cell, John is having a moment of weakness and wants Jesus to speak into his ordeal. For a more thorough handling of Luke 7:18-35, you can check out Sunday’s sermon here.
In this post, I want to zoom in on John’s question and think about doubt and how Christians can handle doubt faithfully as John did.
Two Core Questions
Doubt comes in many shapes and forms. It might be a doubt that God exists, or that God loves you and is working for your good. It might be, like John, a doubt that what God has promised will come true. John’s question in Luke 7:19 exposes two common elements of doubt:
1) Can God really do it?
The first part of John’s question is, “Are you the one who is to come…?” John has already recognized that Jesus is the promised Messiah (John 1:29), yet that confession hangs by a thread as he considers his circumstances. The promises he once believed are on trial in his heart and mind. The seed of doubt is the temptation to believe God is not able or loving enough to do what he has promised to do in his Word.
James 1 helps us flesh this concept out,
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." - James 1:5-8
As I read these verses, I feel my heart fighting against its clarity. I would rather justify doubt as a normal part of life, but when that attitude is taken toward the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God of the universe, doubt isn’t rational anymore, it’s disastrous. God has promised he exists (Psalm 115:3), he works everything for our good (Romans 8:28), and he is good (Psalm 25:8). Those are just a sample of the hundreds of good promises our God gives us and he has the power to accomplish them all in Christ (2 Corinthians 2:20).
2) Can I do it instead?
The second part of John’s question is, “…or shall we look for another?” In other words, “do I have to look harder?” Once our doubt has spoiled our expectations about God, it then augments what we think we can accomplish on our own. James 4:13-17 makes it clearer,
"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."
Doubt, in the Christian life, is having faith in ourselves rather than God. When God’s timing doesn’t match our own, we often try to put the finishing touches on ourselves. When we are wrestling with doubt, we often busy ourselves to fix it. We read a book, we debate with others, we distract ourselves with other tasks. These are not necessarily wrong, but if they take the place of resting in God’s promises (Psalm 62), that is where joy ends and turmoil begins. We need to have a healthy doubt in our own strength and trust in God’s power and love.
Eyes Up
In doubt, God’s call to us is to look to Jesus and not ourselves. In Jesus’ answer to John in Luke 7:22-23, he says,
Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Jesus does not give the simplest answer of “yes I am the One”, rather, quotes the promises of God to John and asks him to trust in God’s character and what he has already done. Each phrase in Jesus’ quote above is a separate promise found in God’s word that predicted the work of the coming Messiah that Jesus was fulfilling. Jesus asks John and us to open our eyes and see what God has done, is doing, and will do. This is built on the fact that God cannot lie, change his mind, or be corrupted by sin or failure. James takes the same tactic with his readers,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
– James 1:17 ESV
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. - James 5:7-8
James says the solution to doubt is patience in God’s promises. He will return and set everything right.
Remember God’s Promises
It is so easy to fall into the trap of doubt and try to “do more” or “try harder” to make our faith stronger. The more trust we have in ourselves the more reason we will have to doubt because we are fallible beings. God is perfect. He cannot and will not fail his purposes. The only real hope for the doubter is the Word of God. Read the promises of God in Romans 8, or in the Psalms, and see how the goodness of God is reflected in your life. Once we are reminded what God has done, especially through the Cross of Jesus, we will be more equipped to follow him today in whatever our Good Father has for us.
