"Or Left Untouched"

"Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us." (Psalms 44:13) If only we could see the finish line, maybe then things could be easier; but that's the beauty in all of this, God has already shown us how it will all end, we just need to have faith towards that end. I was reminded about something the other day, it was about John the Baptist, and how John doubted everything towards the end; as he sat there in that prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus, asking, "Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?" (Luke 7:20). Sometimes we pray for miracles to happen, and they do, they happen all the time; maybe not the miracle that we are looking for, but then again, maybe we are to be that miracle to others. Jesus sent them back to John, saying, "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me." It was like Jesus was reminding John of how important his role was in the kingdom of God; reminding John of how he was that voice in the wilderness, that made way for "The Lamb that takes away the sins of the world". Jesus went on the tell the crowd that was around Him, saying of John, "What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, to whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." No John was not "a reed shaken with the wind, he was a wind that shook the reeds! He, unlike all the prophets before, was part of that which was to come, and he was witness of the coming. Now he only needed to finish his race; no matter how things might appear, or what kind of answers he was getting on the miracle that he wanted, he needed to stay focused on that place in which he was going, not the place that he was in; because like Jesus said, "He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than him"... "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, that I might apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14)