Best of David — Blessed is He . . .

March 7, 2008, 4:00 pm; posted by
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Originally published October 19, 2007.

These words appear in red, sent by Jesus in a message to John the Baptist as he lay in prison. John appeared to be faltering in his belief in Jesus as the Messiah. In their initial meeting, there were no doubts; in fact, he leapt for joy in the womb.

At the next meeting, he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove, and proclaimed, “Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” But after some time in prison, he sent a message saying, “Are you the one that should come, or do we look for another?”

Why would John doubt Jesus? Perhaps if you were in prison and the Great Deliverer, the Messiah, the Coming King — who happened to be your cousin — showed up, but you wound up in prison while His ministry grew so phenomenally that even there you hear reports about His fame, you might have some doubts yourself. You might expect a rescue or a pardon.

Have you truly never let your expectations about who Jesus is, and what He came to do, cloud your perceptions of life? I know I have. I want my bills paid on time. I want a clear path in life, with universally recognized milestones of achievement, so that anyone who looks at me can say, “Surely God is with him!” Instead I get the path that fits His plan, His timetable. His idea of success.

Can God waste your life the way He wasted John’s? Can He allow you to take a stand for righteousness that costs you everything? Your ministry? Your freedom? Your friends and family?

Can He leave you dangling at the cruel end of a young girl’s whims?

“What would you like, my little darling, for this dance that pleases a King?”

“The head of John the Baptist on a platter, thank you.”

Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, but why did John die again? To please an angry woman and a cruel child? I can’t think of a death more senseless, in all the annals of world history. Some have perhaps been as cruel and senseless, but certainly none were worse. He died because a woman was angry, because a young girl danced to please a king, too embarrassed to go back on his promise to give her whatever she asked for, up to half his kingdom. So capricious, so arbitrary.

Can God waste your life in such a seemingly senseless death? Or can He, perhaps, even waste it by the monotonous squandering of your time and energy on things that seem to have no bearing on the eternal? Things that don’t match your expectation of why He came, and what your part is in all this?

Be careful, and remember — “Blessed is he, whosoever is not offended in Me.”


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