For Joseph Scriven, Jesus was not just his Lord and Saviour. Jesus was his friend. A close companion in the times of sorrow. A friend he could always go to with all the worries and cares of his life. A friend who helped him to resist temptation. A friend who would carry him when he wasn’t strong enough. Jesus was a friend who was there even if no one else was. Can it be true? That Jesus wants to be our friend?
John the Baptist was someone who had the most reason to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Therefore it is shocking that he asks him the question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” What had changed? What had happened to John and in John that he would have such doubt?
How do we as Christians respond to desperate circumstances in life when we see no way out, when we see no hope this side of heaven? We need to first see, then stand, and finally trust.