When Doubts Arise

One of the most important figures in the New Testament was John the Baptist, a prophet from the wilderness of Judea. He came to announce to Israel that the Messiah was coming and called the people to prepare for His arrival. Many came to John as he preached in the wilderness. Many responded to his call to repent and were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Then, one day, Jesus stepped out from the crowd. When John saw Him, he proclaimed before all, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus then approached John and asked to be baptized. John replied, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” (Matthew 3:14).

But Jesus answered, “Permit it now, for this is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. After Jesus was baptized, He came up from the water, and the heavens were opened. John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him, and he heard a voice from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:15-17).

A short time later, John publicly condemned King Herod for taking his brother Philip’s wife as his own. Because of his rebuke, Herod had him thrown into prison. After a season of suffering in Herod’s dungeon, John sent his disciples to Jesus with one question: “Are You the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3).

Consider the source of that question. It came from the very man who had identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It came from the same man who saw the Holy Spirit descend from heaven and rest upon Jesus while a voice from heaven declared, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

And yet even John, after months in a dark and stinking prison cell, began to doubt what he had seen, heard, and proclaimed. Of John, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). Yet even this great man experienced what many call a “dark night of the soul.”

There have been times in my own life when, in the middle of trials and tribulations, I have wondered, “Is the story really true? Is God really God? Is Jesus who He claimed to be? If He has promised never to leave me nor forsake me, why am I being tried in this way?” I am no different from John.

What is also remarkable about this story is how Jesus answered John’s disciples. He did not simply send them back saying, “Yes, I am the One who is to come.” Instead, He replied, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Matthew 11:4-5).

Jesus’ answer pointed John back to Old Testament prophecy, especially the words of Isaiah concerning the ministry of the coming Messiah. John was familiar with these promises.

What I have discovered in my fifty-four years of walking with Christ is that knowing Him does not exempt me from times of testing, trial, and tribulation. The Scriptures do promise that He will never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5), and I believe that with all my heart. But I have also learned that there are times when He removes the conscious awareness of His presence, and in that space He calls me to trust. Though I may feel as if He is far away and I have been forsaken, the truth is that He is as near as He has ever been.

From the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” When the sinless Son of God took upon Himself your sin, my sin, and the sin of the world, His holy Father turned away from His Son for a moment. Jesus became, as John prophesied, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Here is the truth: Jesus was forsaken by His Father so that those who believe in Him will never be forsaken.

Among the heroes of the faith whose stories fill the pages of Scripture, we see that all of them faced their own personal “dark night of the soul.” Study the lives of Joseph, Moses, David, and Elijah. Consider also the lives of Jesus’ disciples and the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. None were exempt. And yet, in their valleys of testing and affliction, they found His grace to be sufficient. John did as well.