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.
當懷疑萌生時
新約聖經中最重要的人物之一是施洗約翰，他是來自猶大曠野的一位先知。他受命向以色列宣布彌賽亞即將到來，並呼召百姓為祂的降臨做好準備。當約翰在曠野傳道時，許多人慕名而來；許多人響應他的呼召，悔改並由他在約旦河裡受洗。
直到有一天，耶穌從人群中走出來。約翰看見祂，便在眾人面前宣告：「看哪，神的羔羊，除去世人罪孽的！」（約翰福音 1:29）。耶穌隨後走向約翰，請求受洗。約翰回答說：「我當受你的洗，你反倒上我這裡來嗎？」（馬太福音 3:14）。
但耶穌回答說：「你暫且許我，因為我們理當這樣盡諸般的義。」於是約翰許了祂。耶穌受了洗，隨即從水裡上來，天就為祂開了。約翰看見神的靈彷彿鴿子降下，落在祂身上；並聽見從天上有聲音說：「這是我的愛子，我所喜悅的。」（馬太福音 3:15-17）。
不久之後，約翰因公開譴責希律王強佔其兄弟腓力的妻子而入獄。在希律的監牢中受盡折磨後，約翰差遣他的門徒去問耶穌一個問題：「那將要來的是你嗎？還是我們等候別人呢？」（馬太福音 11:3）。
請思考這個問題的來源。它出自那個曾指認耶穌是「除去世人罪孽的神的羔羊」的人。它出自那個曾目睹聖靈從天降下落在耶穌身上，並親耳聽到天父宣告「這是我的愛子，我所喜悅的」那個人。
然而，即便是約翰，在陰暗、惡臭的牢房裡度過了數月之後，也開始對自己所見、所聞、所宣告的一切產生了懷疑。耶穌論到約翰時曾說：「我實在告訴你們，凡婦人所生的，沒有一個興起來大過施洗約翰的。」（馬太福音 11:11）。然而，即使是這樣一位偉人，也經歷了許多人所說的「靈魂的暗夜」。
在我自己的生命中，也曾有過這樣的時刻。在試煉與苦難中，我曾懷疑：「這個故事是真的嗎？神真的是神嗎？耶穌真的是祂自稱的那一位嗎？如果祂應許永不離開我，也不撇棄我，為什麼我會遭受這樣的試煉？」在這些時刻，我發現自己跟約翰沒什麼兩樣。
這個故事的引人注目的部分還在於耶穌對約翰門徒的回應。祂沒有簡單地讓他們回去說「是的，我就是那一位」，而是說：「你們去，把所聽見、所看見的事告訴約翰：就是瞎子看見，瘸子行走，長大麻瘋的潔淨，聾子聽見，死人復活，窮人有福音傳給他們。」（馬太福音 11:4-5）。
耶穌的回答是在提醒約翰去回想《舊約》中關於彌賽亞的預言。約翰對這些應許是熟悉的。
在跟隨基督的五十四年裡，我發現認識祂並不意味著可以免受考驗、試煉與苦難。聖經確實應許祂永不離開我，也不撇棄我（希伯來書 13:5），我全心全意地相信這一點。但我也學到，有時祂會暫時收起讓我們「感覺得到」的同在，在那段空白裡，祂要求我們單單去「信靠」。儘管我可能覺得祂離我很遠，覺得自己被遺棄了，但事實是，祂一如既往地離我那麼近。
在十字架上，耶穌大聲喊著：「我的神！我的神！為什麼離棄我？」當無罪的耶穌承擔了你我及世人的罪，聖潔的天父曾有一刻轉臉不看祂。正如約翰所預言，耶穌成為了除去世人罪孽的神的羔羊。
真相是：耶穌被祂的父離棄，是為了讓那些信祂的人永遠不被離棄。
在聖經中那些信心英雄的故事裡，我們看到他們每個人都面對過屬於自己的「靈魂暗夜」。看看約瑟、摩西、大衛和以利亞的生平；再看看新約中耶穌的門徒和使徒保羅。沒有人能幸免。然而，在試煉與痛苦的低谷中，他們發現上帝的恩典是夠用的。約翰也是如此。