Doubt: it is the place where understanding and faith collide, where spiritual chaos is created.
Doubt that is contemplated is always destructive to your spirit.
“When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” “Matthew 11:2-3
It seems like an unthinkable question from a man whom Jesus called, “Greatest man born of women,” Matthew 11:11.
Prison was John’s place of restraint, a place where he had to endure and was powerless to act.
All he had was time for contemplation, time to ponder, and he began to doubt.
“Should we expect someone else?”
What a forlorn question.
“No!” would not suffice; he needed evidence to put his doubts to rest.
Jesus gave him balm for his spirit – the words of Isaiah, “…the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised us, the poor have the good news preached to them.”
If you look for Messiah or the Kingdom through your interpretation or how you want it to appear, you miss the King.
Even though John had a revelation that Jesus was “The One,” his expectation of how the Messiah must look and behave were a stumbling block to his belief.
“Are you the one who is to come…”
What a desperate plea from a man who spent his life announcing and preparing for the moment of Messiah’s revelation.
When Jesus began to reveal God’s nature, it was not what he expected, and he doubted.
The world had decided what Messiah would look like. Not looking beyond their expectations, they missed the moment of visitation.
Jesus did not and does not conform to the expectation of man.
They were looking for someone who fit their understanding of God, and their understanding blinded them to the very one who would give them sight and hearing.
Even John, the herald of the new king and kingdom missed it.
“Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
John 1:32-34
When you question and become uncertain, not unlike John, you will lose the heavenly perspective and rely on an earthly view of what Jesus the Messiah would do and look like, and you move into doubt.
That which is of the flesh is limited to the flesh and open to doubt.
Unless you are empowered by Holy Spirit to see things differently, you do not have the ability to do otherwise.
You must be born of the Spirit to see things in the Spirit.