This month my team and I are doing devotions together from the book of John. I love John and I love how he is obsessed with love!
As we were reading through the sections about John the Baptist, it hit me how secure John was in his identity in Christ. He blatantly told people who wanted to worship him as the messiah, or a prophet that in no uncertain terms was he anything of the sort. But He was “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.'”
He dressed oddly, ate bugs, and spoke bluntly, but he was confident in who he was in Christ and what his role was. When he saw Jesus, he pointed people to Him immediately, not feeling the loss of his own disciples or prestige.
I also love how God –God himself–gave John the Baptist the beautiful image of God as the Bridegroom and we are the bride. What a beautiful metaphor of God loving us given to people who feared God as a harsh judge.
“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:29-30
“He Must become greater; I must become less.”
He > I
Both a confident and humble person in his identity in Christ.
Even though John was such a great man and recognized Jesus instantly as the son of God, he also doubted Jesus when his expectations were not met. In Luke chapter 7, John the Baptist was thrown in prison, awaiting his death. He sends his disciples out to ask Jesus if “you are the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
John had already recognized Jesus as the Messiah, but suffering in prison made him doubt that knowledge. Perhaps he thought he would follow Jesus and be one of his disciples. Or maybe that John would be rescued by Jesus.
When our expectations are not met by God, it’s easy to slip into the thinking that either God or we are doing something wrong. Maybe I should pray more, or have more faith, or maybe I have put my faith in the wrong thing. Maybe I have misunderstood His promises. And cry out, “Are you really who you say you are?”
This past month has been the hardest physically that I have had on this entire race. I have been hospitalized twice, been sick countless times, and have had many headaches this past year, but for some reason this month the headaches/migraines have increased. I have taken nine of my heavy duty migraine medication this last month alone, that means pain shots in the thigh, oxycodone, and sumatriptan pills that drag me down into tiredness and discomfort, taking me away from my team and my normal personality.
That is nine days out of 18 where I have been physically ill from a headache that I couldn’t continue the day without medicine greater than Advil, Excedrin migraine, or hydrocodone. There have been numerous times this month where I have started to shake holding the syringe containing the migraine pain killer in my hand, or fight tears as we pack up our bags and I know that the headache will turn into a migraine simply because I’m picking up my bag for a moment.
There have been numerous nights where I am up at 2 am holding my neck and head, praying in the name of Jesus to be healed, fully expected an odd but beautiful sensation in my neck and head that indicates that my bones are being corrected and the pain is fleeing–but it doesn’t happen. Yet.
I hate feeling this week. I hate having to take all this medicine, and I hate that the pain seems to be removing who I really am from this broken body.
And even though I know Jesus, know that He works all things for my good, knows that He works with all of us in different ways for different glories yet to be revealed, there are some days when I look up at the ceiling, with tears in my eyes and pills in my hand, and ask “Am I doing something wrong?”
Jesus response to John the Baptist’s question is wonderful!
“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” Luke 7:22-23
Jesus knew that John knew the scriptures, and this would remind him that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies. He gently was reminding John of who He was and what He was doing. And then Jesus says, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
Blessed is the man who does not fall away because he is not rescued when I have rescued so many others.
Blessed is the man who does not fall away because others are walking by my side while others are in prison.
Blessed is the man who does not fall away because I have blessed some financially while others wait in poverty.
Blessed is the man who does not fall away because I have healed countless of people but have not healed you yet.
Blessed is the man who does not fall away when your expectations are not met, but you still trust in Me anyway–because I am your light and your salvation. And I have great plans for you and use all things for My glory. Because in your suffering and waiting,
I, the King of Kings, the Great I am,
love you like a bridegroom loves His bride.
Thank you Jesus! A good lesson to learn. I’m still learning!
