For me it is a swimming pool, as I was 10 years old before I could trust the water and trust myself to go 10m without drowning! Sit down to read.

Luke 7:11-20

Soon afterwards Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his followers and a large crowd traveled with him. When he came near the town gate, he saw a funeral. A mother, who was a widow, had lost her only son. A large crowd from the town was with the mother while her son was being carried out. When the Lord saw her, he felt very sorry for her and said, "Don’t cry." He went up and touched the coffin, and the people who were carrying it stopped. Jesus said, "Young man, I tell you, get up!"  And the son sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.
All the people were amazed and began praising God, saying, "A great prophet has come to us! God has come to help his people."
This news about Jesus spread through all Judea and into all the places around there.
John’s followers told him about all these things. He called for two of his followers  and sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?"
When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you with this question: ‘Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?’ "

The verse where John asks, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" has always amazed me. John was the one who baptised Jesus after all (how could he forget something that was part of his name?!), yet he sends his disciples to find out if Jesus really is the Messiah! John must either be suffering from amnesia, being incredibly fussy (well, yes the miracles were good, but I've seen better ...), or perhaps can't quite believe what he's got himself into, and is looking for an escape clause.

But as I start throwing stones, I realise that the funny thing is I've also met Jesus, and I've seen what he can do, yet there are times when I think "Are we all just deluding ourselves?"

Long before Thomas, John is holding out an empathetic fig leaf to all of us doubters. Throughout the Psalms David articulated his doubts to God. They weren't a comment on his relationship with God. They were an integral part of his relationship with God. We've all had conversations with friends where only when we've asked the awkward question has the conversation really got down to the nitty-gritty. That is when we discover another layer or angle that we hadn't seen. Basically the relationship deepens. That is what can happen with God if we're honest about our doubts. The worst case scenario is that we suppress our doubts for years, and then when a traumatic life situation occurs which simply "does not compute", we just lose it totally. Baby Jesus goes out with the bath water.

As John articulated his doubts, perhaps he discovered that they could be more accurately described as misunderstandings. You see "Jesus the Liberator" hadn't liberated the Jews from the Romans as he was expecting, and he was experiencing the sharp end of this, sitting frustratedly in prison. After the exchange, he was beginning to understand that the Kingdom of this Messiah was not coming in a purely political way, but that it was something much wider and deeper. John wouldn't have made this discovery however, if he hadn't been honest in expressing his doubts and concerns.

In this place, take some time to talk through your doubts with God today.

From God 360°, written and copyright © 2006 Andy Flannagan
Reproduced with permission from Andy Flannagan.

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