When John the Baptist found himself in prison looking forward to certain death, he began to doubt Christ. Even though he had recognized the savior before birth, even though he had identified him as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, even though he had heard the voice of God saying "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," he doubted. He sent messengers to Jesus asking, "are you the one, or should we wait for another?"

He had not planned for his life to end in prison. In the face of that discouragement, he had to wonder if he had been wrong this whole time.

I want to suggest that John doubted not because his faith was weak, but because it was strong. He actually believed in God. He believed in the God who is big enough to notice every event going on in the world. He believed in the God who is big enough that not one thing happens apart from his providence.

He refused to confine God to a safe box. He refused to say, oh well, I'm sure God would have helped if he could have. He believed God was big. He believed God was big enough to handle his questions and doubts.

Are you afraid to doubt God? Maybe you actually fear that if you ever asked God a question you would find he could not answer it. Maybe you are afraid that if you ever went down the road of doubt, you would find that you don't actually believe in God at all.

When I was in third grade, I was skeptical about Santa Claus, but I was afraid that if I stopped believing I would stop getting presents. Are you afraid that if you ask God why he allows school shootings you would stop getting presents?