Matthew 11:3 KJV
And said unto him,
Art thou he that should come,
or do we look for another?
Illustrations
Martin Luther
Martin Luther, of a kindred spirit with the Baptist, and with a like task to perform, had many days of despondency, and passed through many conflicts of unbelief.
- He writes: “One may overcome the temptations of the flesh, but how hard it is to struggle against the temptations of blasphemy and despair.”
- Again: “Having all but lost my Christ, I was beaten by the waves and tempests of despair and blasphemy.”
John Bunyan
Bunyan, who, with his wonderful imagination, could body forth the things unseen and spiritual, as if he could see them with his eyes, hear them with his ears, and touch them with his hands, had many conflicts with unbelief.
- “Of all temptations I ever met with in my life,” he says, “to question the being of God and the truth of His gospel is the worst, and worst to be borne. When this temptation comes it takes my girdle from me, and removes the foundation from under me. Though God has visited my soul with never so blessed a discovery of Himself, yet afterwards I have been in my spirit so filled with darkness, that I could not so much as once conceive what that God and that comfort were with which I had been refreshed.”
Doubts
Colton declares that in moments of despondency
▪︎ Shakespeare thought himself no poet;
▪︎ and Raphael doubted his right to be called a painter.
We call such self-suspicions morbid, and ascribe them to a hypochondriacal fit; in what other way can we speak of those doubts as to their saintship, which occasionally afflict the most eminently holy of the Lord’s people!
What would you think
- What would be thought of a chemist who should conduct an experiment, day after day, making a number of little variations in his method, but always withholding the deciding element from the crucible, or else persistently refusing to look at the result?
- Or, what would be thought of a merchant, always reckoning up his figures, but never writing down the final sums?
- Or, what would be thought of a captain who should sail his ship in a circle?
- Or, what would be thought of a traveller always on the road, never reaching home or inn?
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