Questions.

Last week we were talking about how much God loves us. We are in our series talking about how to finish our God race strong. Another thing to consider is that we need to serve God even when we don’t understand. That’s a hard one, because I feel like a lot of us are hard wired to ask “Why?”

We have seen kids when they go through their “Why?” stage. I don’t think I ever really outgrew it. I like to know why I need to do something before I do it. Sometimes it helps me know how much effort I need to put in it you know. Like am I doing this because it is necessary or beneficial or its just something nice to do? Is it something I need to spend the next two weeks working on or I can do it in 5 minutes and move on with life. Why am I doing this?

Sometimes our question may not be “Why?” Maybe it’s “What?” Or “When?” For John the Baptist it was “Am I right or did I miss it?” Matthew 11:1-3 says, “After Jesus finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he went on to minister in different villages throughout the region. Now, while John the Baptizer was in prison, he heard about the wonderful deeds of the Christ, so he sent his disciples to ask him this question: “Are you really the one the prophets said would come, or should we still wait for another?””

Isn’t that crazy? John. Jesus’ cousin. The same John who dedicated his life to preaching and preparing the way for Jesus was doubting who Jesus was. *Insert gasp* If we back track a little, we know John baptised Jesus himself.

Matthew 3:13-17 says, “Then Jesus left Galilee to come to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But when he waded into the water, John resisted him, saying, “Why are you doing this? I’m the one who needs to be baptized by you, and yet you come to be baptized by me?”

Jesus replied, “It is only right to do all that God requires.”  Then John baptized Jesus.  And as Jesus rose up out of the water, the heavenly realm opened up over him and he saw the Holy Spirit descend out of the heavens and rest upon him in the form of a dove.  Then suddenly the voice of the Father shouted from the sky, saying, “This is my Son—the Beloved!  My greatest delight is in him.””

John was there when this happened. John heard God’s voice from heaven because it was not a heavenly whisper or something Jesus felt in His heart, this was God shouting from heaven! There were witnesses and John was one of them.

You ever feel like you know too much about God to be doubting Him but somehow you find you have questions? We all have different types of questions that go through our minds at different stages of our walk with God. But one thing to learn from John the Baptist is that he did not let his questions get in the way of his faith. He did not let his questions stop him from following the word of God and doing what God had called him to do.

We all have questions. Sometimes we get answers, other times we don’t. Other times we get answers that raise more questions haha! This is what Jesus said back in answer to John’s question, Matthew 11:4-6, “Jesus answered them, “Give John this report: ‘The blind see again, the crippled walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised back to life, and the poor and broken now hear of the hope of salvation!’  And tell John that the blessing of heaven comes to those who are not offended over me.””

So umm, was that a “Yes?” Lol. Gotta love Jesus. That’s why God is so big on faith. Faith means we obey when we understand, and we obey when we don’t understand. Faith means even when we have unanswered questions or answers that we don’t understand we don’t give up hope and we do not quit on our faith walk. We keep running the race. We keep showing up. We keep doing the things we know to do. We keep obeying God.

I don’t think John only thought to ask that question while he was in prison. It must have been weighing on his heart and he thought, before he died he would like to know if he did what he was meant to do. Did I finish my race? Are you the One I was preparing the way for? Did I do what I was called to do? I think John’s question shows his heart, he had a heart that wanted to please God and do God’s will. What’s your heart like when you ask questions? Are you asking questions because you want to do God’s will or want to find loopholes and ways to avoid it? I’ll just leave that there.

It is a sign of maturity when you can obey when you don’t understand why. This is why as children our parents mature us by telling us things like “Because I said so,” in answer to our why’s. It prepares us for life because Christian or non-Christian, there are always going to be things we don’t understand and questions that go unanswered or answers we can’t make sense of and that is ok. We don’t break down and throw our hands in the air. We buckle down and keep moving because we know that whatever the answer, we have a God who loves us who is looking out for us and who wants the best for us.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.