Friday, March 6, 2009
Doubt Your Doubts!
By John Gagliardi
Doubt—defined as "uncertainty arising from a lack of knowledge or evidence"—is as old as man himself, and depending on how we react to it, can lead to either negative or positive consequences.
Doubt is not sin; but doubt can lead to unbelief, which is sin. Yet, honest doubt can also have the opposite effect, and lead to tested and resolute faith.
Doubt can be part of the process of solidifying faith. God does not mind if we have honest questions, but He is very concerned about where our questions lead.
Many of us did not quickly accept what the other Christian told him, that Jesus had appeared to them, and responded: "Unless I see ... I will not believe" (John 20:19 and 25).
When Jesus appeared and gave us the visible and physical evidence we needed for our doubts to be resolved. Jesus said: "Stop doubting, and believe!"
Jesus gently chided us by saying: "Because you have seen me, you have believed." But He goes on to say something that has echoed down the annals of time to us today:
"Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29). Because we walk by faith, not by sight! (2 Cor. 5:7). Doubt goes all the way back to Eve in the Garden of Eden, and her response to the questioning of the serpent—as he insinuates doubt into her mind by asking, "Did God really say?"—leads ultimately to the fall of mankind and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden.
Doubt is not the problem; it is our response to doubt that is all-important. There have been many famous "doubters" in Bible history (I am indebted to the Life Application Study Bible for the following list):
Abraham, when told he would be a father in his old age (Gen. 17:17)
Sarah, when she heard she would be a mother in her old age (Gen. 18:12)
Moses, when told to return to Egypt to lead his people out (Ex. 3:10-15)
The Israelites, whenever they faced troubles in the wilderness (Ex. 16:1-3)
Gideon, when told he would be a mighty man of valour, and lead his people to defeat the Midianites (Judg. 6:14-23)
Zechariah, when told he also would be a father in his old age (Luke 1: 18)
The Life Application Study Bible notes point out that many of the people God used to accomplish great things started out as doubters: "God showed great patience.
Honest doubt was not a bad starting point, as long as they didn't stay there. How great a part does doubt have in your willingness to trust God?" There is, as the LASB commentator says, nothing wrong with having doubts, as long as we work through the doubts to a point of trust and belief.
Jesus Himself says to us: "Don't be afraid—only believe" (Mark 5:36). Jesus understands only too well that the human mind, going right back to the time of Eve in the Garden, has a natural inclination to doubt and question, to waver and to mistrust, to ponder and to hesitate. But doubt—if we face it honestly and without fear—need not hold us back from doing great things for God.
Faith that has been tested by facing and resolving doubt, is faith that is stronger and more securely founded. Thomas honestly faced his doubts, no doubt being tempted to just go along with the crowd.
"But doubt, by itself, often indicates that the doubter wants very much to believe, but is afraid to. Doubt leads to questioning, which can lead to deep faith and indicates that our faith is not fragile, not just based on what we were told as children and accepted 'whole cloth.' "One of Thomas' great virtues was that he absolutely refused to say that he ... believed what he did not believe. There was an uncompromising honesty about him. "By inviting Thomas to touch him and feel His wounds, Jesus, I think, is approving Thomas' questions, because He knows they arise from an honest doubt that can and often does lead to faithful commitment. "And because Thomas doubted and was satisfied, it becomes possible for us who have not seen the risen Lord physically, also to believe."
Helen Keller, who achieved great things even though born blind, says this: "It need not discourage us if we are full of doubts. Healthy questions keep faith dynamic. "He who has a faith which is not to be shaken has won it through blood and tears—has worked his way from doubt to truth as one who reaches a clearing through a thicket of brambles and thorns." Personally, I have great admiration and just a touch of envy for Christians I know who never seem to be troubled by doubt—those who have an unwavering, always-overcoming faith that sees them through every trial and test with nary a flicker of uncertainty or anxiety. Unfortunately, I don't know too many like that!
Most of us, I think, struggle from time to time with questions and doubts, as we workplace ministers battle out there in the marketplace and see the ungodly seemingly prosper; the cheats and the crooks connive and scheme and the shysters and conmen swindle their way to power and wealth. But the Bible tells us not to envy the wicked: "Do not envy wicked men, do not desire their company; for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about making trouble" (Prov. 24:1). Instead, as righteous people, we are told to "stand firm forever" (Prov. 10:25), because good people receive "favor from the Lord" (Prov. 12:2). If we trust God with all our heart, and live and operate out of God's wisdom, we will win "favor and a good name," have "long life, riches and honor" (Prov. 3:4, 5 and 16).
Godly wisdom—not the ways of the world—brings us "riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity" ... "Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily ... waiting ... for whoever finds Me finds life, and receives favor from the Lord" (Prov. 8:18, 24 and 25). God wants us to trust and obey Him no matter what our eyes see—no matter how unjust the world seems, and no matter how much we may see the worldly and the ungodly seeming to succeed and get ahead. Because we know the promises we have from Him—He tells us that His plans are for our good, not our harm, and that He wants to prosper us, and give us a good future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).
For most of us, doubts will come. We are in a battle to the death, but there are no captives. The battleground is in our mind and our heart—in our intellect and our emotions. Doubt and fear come as "fiery darts" from the devil and they try to enter our minds and our hearts. But God gives us what we need to protect ourselves—He gives us the helmet of salvation to protect our minds, and He gives us the breastplate of righteousness to protect our heart. We stand firm in the "Good News shoes," and we have the shield of faith to deflect, blunt and quench every fiery dart and arrow the enemy shoots at us (Eph. 6:14-17). God tells us to stand firm and stand our ground (Eph. 6:13-14). Attacks will come, as we live in a fallen world.
Peter encourages us by telling us that "There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials show that your faith is genuine—it is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold ... through Christ, you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God ... after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation ... What you are experiencing is part of God's grace for you. Stand firm in this grace!" (1 Pet. 1:6, 7, 21; 4:12; 5:10 and 12).
We can have doubts—but we work through them by the grace of God, so that at the end, we come to a place where we can stand firm, with faith casting out fear, trust casting out doubt, and belief casting out unbelief. James reinforces this message: "When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow ... But ... be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind" (James 1:2 and 6).
David Winter, in his article "Do Not Doubt, But Believe," summarizes very neatly what we have been saying: "'Doubting' (is) not the same as 'unbelieving.' Thomas believed in Jesus from first to last. He trusted and followed Him all the way from Galilee to Gethsemane. Thomas doubted his fellow apostles ... but he never doubted Jesus. "To 'believe' in the Christian sense is not a matter of ticking off items in a Creed, but of trusting in the Lord Jesus. The ticks may well follow (we can pray that they do) but like Thomas, we may find that doubt honestly faced is not the opposite of true and deep faith, but a path to it."
