Scripture Scribbles: December 11, 2022

the Gospel

Matthew 11:2-11

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me."

As they were going off,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,
"What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing?
Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.
Then why did you go out? To see a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

the devotion

“Go and tell John what you hear and see”

What do you see and hear? 

Are your eyes truly open to what the Lord is doing in your life? 

What about in the lives of those around you?

Do you wake up in the morning and ask Jesus to make Himself known to you today?

Do you ask for a heart and a mind open and receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit?

I often fall into this trap myself: I can get so wrapped up in the day to day tasks, or the deep longing desires of my yet unmet answered prayers, or the anxieties of the ‘what ifs?’, all the while I am praying every day. My prayer can turn into a routine, a familiar, yet mundane routine, in which I say things with my lips but they don’t seem to reach my head or my heart. 

I leave my prayer time and just keep on clinging to those tasks, worries, doubts, and ‘what ifs?’. It’s not really changing the way I live, or the way I think, or the way I trust in the Lord, instead, it is acting as a checkbox – not penetrating a thick cloud I’ve built up around me.

One time in prayer the Lord showed me a clear image of what was happening. I was asking for something repeatedly, and Jesus was there, with His palms opened, receiving it each and every time I asked for it. Yet I was unaware, in this gray cloud. I was repeatedly throwing the same thing onto Him, again and again, and getting increasingly upset with each throw. The stark contrast of His peace and receptivity and my hustled, worried requests was startling. 

In an instant, everything was made clear. I had been praying, I had been showing up and speaking to the Lord, but I was not actually believing, trusting, or resting in His promises or His identity. I was not actually listening to what He was telling me in His Word and through His Church. Because of this, my heart and my mind and my eyes were closed to everything He was already doing in my life and in the lives of those around me. It uncovered the deep lack of trust that was actually harboring underneath my prayer time and my prayer requests. 

So, today, I ask you: What do you see and hear? 

Do you ask for things of the Lord, but then leave your prayer time feeling equally discouraged? If so, I invite you to spend some time with Him, meditating on who Jesus tells us He is in His Word. I invite you to really soak it in and ask yourself if you truly believe and trust that “anything is possible with God” (Matthew 19:26). 

It is one thing to say it, another to do it, but yet another to actually believe it and live it.

If Jesus asked you today, “Go and tell John what you hear and see”. What would you have to report?

Today’s devotion was written by Rachel Smith