Luke 3:3-6 :

He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.
Every valley will be filled.
Every mountain and hill will be brought low.
The crooked will become straight,
and the rough ways smooth.
All flesh will see God’s salvation.’”

John the Baptist’s ministry was written into the Bible before he was born. The passage quoted by Dr. Luke here comes from Isaiah 40:3-5. Have you ever wished that God would have written down your ministry so that you can read it and do what it says and know that you are doing the right thing? Believe it or not, even if that were true, we would still not always have confidence and I have proof from John the Baptist himself.

John was later to question his own ministry when he went into severe trials which proved to me that he is a man just like me. The great thing about John was that when he was doubting, he went strait to Jesus and asked Him what He thought. Jesus did not accuse or become disappointed with John. In fact, the Bible records that He then gave John the biggest commendation that any man had ever had up to that point. So, this one thing appears to be very clear. Even when we doubt, we must not forget to go to Jesus and let Him minister to us so that we can regain our vision no matter what our circumstances or how we feel. Jesus will encourage us and put our mind back on the right track without finding fault. He doesn’t find fault with us because He has paid the price for us and understands our weakness. The biggest fault would be for us to not come to Him.

The other point I want to make is that God does have a plan for each of us. Jesus said that God even keeps track of the number of hairs on your head. Believe me, if He can do that, He has a plan for you too. Perhaps the reason that God doesn’t tell us the plan is because part of that plan is for us to learn to depend on His leadership every day of our lives.

Thinking about what God said about John the Baptist’s purpose, it is difficult to see how a desert living, locust eating, strait-shooter could accomplish this great task by just preaching and submerging people in water. If it were up to me to figure out the details, I would probably have chosen the wrong thing because I am quite sure that I wouldn’t have done the “John the Baptist thing” the way He chose. What’s interesting is that it worked and I have no idea how. Perhaps this is what God is trying to tell me.

Jeremiah 10:23 :

Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

I need to stop trying to figure everything out. I don’t need to worry about the details. I can trust that God will work those out and surprise all of us, including me.