Have you ever been in a circumstance where there seems to be no solutions? Have you ever been in a circumstance where there are lots of options, but none of them are good?

All of us have a picture of what our lives are supposed to look like…and for many of us that vision is a distorted reality. We all step into a space like this at some point in our lives and we can’t see a way forward or a way out.

what’s even worse is the lives of everybody else around you magnify the tough reality of what you will never have and we slip into this “it is what it is” narrative.

Does this sound familiar?

From my own experience, in these seasons of life, we draw some really bad conclusions and we begin telling ourselves some deep lies. Like; “I will never find happiness again.” or “Nothing good can come from my circumstance.” or “I don’t see any point continuing on…I give up.”

Have you told yourself any of these things?

If you’re a Christian, the epicenter of your struggle makes us ask the following questions. Does God know what I’m going through? Does He hear my prayers? Is He concerned and does He even care?

The good news is that your circumstance does not surprise God. The truth is that God is not absent, apathetic or angry with you. Ok great, but that doesn’t make me feel any better, right?

When Jesus went to the cross, God settled once and for all that He knows your name, whether or not He cares about you and whether or not He is concerned about your life!

Talking about circumstances, lets step into the story of John the Baptist because you are not alone in questioning God’s silence.

As Jesus is teaching one day, a group of guys from John’s tribe comes up to Jesus and asks Him some questions on behalf of John. “Are you really the Messiah? Are you really the sent one from God?”

Lets back the story up a bit here. The reason why John sends his tribe to ask these questions of Jesus, is because he is in prison. Talk about a circumstance! He ended up in prison because he started taking some shots at those in power – the political “elites”.

The news about Jesus traveled the same way. Eventually the news about Jesus’ miracles reached the ears of John the Baptist who was imprisoned in one of the palaces of King Herod which was also used as a prison. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus states that John the Baptist was imprisoned in the palace of Macherus. The palace was built in 90 B.C. and was located about 24 km southeast of where the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea. John had been in prison for about twelve to eighteen months when news about Jesus challenged him.

As the months passed, John begins to have doubts about Jesus, as many of us do. He must have have been asking questions like, “Why am I still in prison?” “Jesus, when are you gonna break me out?” “Jesus, are you even going to visit?”

Tough stuff, right? Well how about this — Jesus tells us, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…” (Matthew 11:11). What’s even tougher to digest is that when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee (Matthew 4:12). Wait a minute, what?

It gets worse. John the baptist is in a desert prison and Jesus is hanging out in Capernaum – the beach!

Here is how Jesus responds to the men who asked the question on behalf of John. “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor”

Ok, yeah that’s great, but what about John? Right? This is tough stuff, but even when we are stuck in the desert of our circumstance and we’re wondering where Jesus is…He can still love us!

We need to stop connecting our tough circumstances to how much God doesn’t love us or lack of His presence. He loves us! He knows us! …and he cares about us! Jesus is saying, blessed is the person who trust Him despite what He is or is not doing! Blessed are those who continue to trust Him, when He is not acting on their behalf!

When we are going through hardships it is so easy to believe the lie that God has forgotten about us, that He is too busy for us, or that He doesn’t love us. I know we question why God chooses to hide Himself during our time of need, but His promises are true, and He will reveal Himself when the time is right. Remember that when someone is hiding, it means that they are there even though you cannot see them at that moment. God loves you more than you could ever imagine, and He knows what you are experiencing.

I read in a devotional somewhere that God’s delays are not necessarily His denials.

Not easy, but this is why we shouldn’t interpret His silence as His absence!