January 18, 2023
Missing God
“Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.”
John 1:24-26 (NASB)
Have you ever gone into your kitchen cabinet looking for something and couldn’t find it? Many times, we spend a lot of time looking and get really frustrated when we can’t. We continue to search high and low in the cabinet as if it were our child missing in a store. Frantic searching ends when humility begins. After minutes of looking without finding the item we finally call in for help, reluctantly… When help arrives, they look into the cabinet and say, “there it is.” Then they reach in and grasp it right in front of you. It is right there among the other items.
As I share these daily devotions, I proofread. Many times, it takes numerous attempts. I’ll take line by line and carefully read through each sentence looking for grammatical and spelling errors. Then after I feel satisfied with what is in front of me, I hand it to my wife to read it. After a few minutes, she will hand me back the writing and say, “you spelled this wrong,” or “this doesn’t make sense” pointing to the paper. As I re-read, I realize how it was so obvious among the other words. It was right in front of me, but I missed it. This is what John the Baptist was trying to communicate to the Pharisees. Jesus was among them, and they didn’t even recognize Him. They were too busy trying to authenticate him.
John 1:10-11 tells us that, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” A. T. Robertson shares a sad indictment of the Pharisees as he notes, “This was the tragedy of the situation. Apparently, this startling declaration excited no further inquiry from the committee.”[1] While the Pharisees were looking to authenticate whose name John was baptizing people, they completely missed the person who was the One who was among them bringing redemption to His people. They were caught up in a search for something that was already among them. Their search for who authenticated John the Baptist’s ministry bypassed the One whom was among them already.
In the world today, we find people looking for answers to life’s issues and how to handle life during its most critical moments. Yet, they miss the answers that are among them all the time. It might be the writing on the wall (or my paper as illustrated above), to the item from the cabinet. Whether they are words in a sentence, or cans in a cabinet, we often don’t see what is among us. We are that help they need today.
Let’s help folks to understand that the answers to life are among them all the time. God’s Word is among us and within us to share these answers. These answers are among the heart of the believer who has been accepted by God. Don’t let folks today bypass the One who is here now waiting to save them!
[1] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 1:26.