Why Do We Doubt? Series

Why do we doubt?

Exodus 6:1-27

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus, and as we study, we’re asking the question, “What can we learn about honoring God from this passage?”

- Last week, we look at three ways that God showed Moses that He was greater than his problems.

- The problems he faced included Pharaoh resisting him, Pharaoh punishing the Israelites, and Pharaoh causing division between Moses and his people.

- In our lives as Christians, we face the same kinds of problems…

- The world resists us, sometimes punishes us, and attempts to divide us, all because Satan doesn’t want us to spread the Gospel…

- Yet each and every time we face a problem, God always shows us that He is greater than our problems, no matter how big they seem to be.

- Today, I want to ask the question, “Why do we doubt?”

- I’m reminded of my time playing baseball little league back when my family lived in New York.

- We had a great coach.

- He was very patient and kind, especially with me, because I’ll be honest…I wasn’t really a good baseball player!

- One day, I was up to bat, and I was super nervous.

- Usually, I’d either strike out or walk, because I was too nervous to swing my bat.

- This time, however, I decided that I was going to swing my bat.

- I’ll never forget the ball being thrown, and it was almost like slow motion…

- I swung my bat, I saw it hit the ball, and bam…off it went way out into the outfield.

- Well, as soon as I realized it was going to be way out there, and the opposing team wasn’t going to catch it, I ran as fast as I could to first base.

- One of the things the coach had taught us to do when we ran bases was to not stop as soon as our foot touched the base…

- Whichever base we were going to stop running at, we were supposed to trot past the base to slow down.

- So my foot touched first base, and I kept going straight, trotting a few steps so I could slow down and stop.

- My coach was standing there, and I could see him waving his arm and yelling, “Go 2, go 2!!!”

- I couldn’t figure out what he meant, and as I looked at him, I wondered if he meant to keep going and run to 2nd base, but doubt was filling my mind, so I though maybe he meant something else…

- So when I stopped at first, he was still shouting, “Go 2!”

- But it was too late…

- They had already thrown the ball back, so I had to stay at first.

- I remember my coach asking me why I didn’t go to 2nd, and I apologized profusely, explaining that I didn’t know what he meant.

- He smiled and apologized to me for not being clearer…

- But why I share that story is because I remember that story just as if it happened yesterday…

- I was filled with doubt, and that’s the biggest reason why I stopped at first base instead of making it to 2nd.

- All of us probably have a story like that…

- A story of a time when we doubted, and because of that doubt, we lost out on something, or messed something up.

- Well, as we’ve already seen, and will continue to see all throughout this study, Moses was no different.

- He had times when he doubted, and God was very patient with him.

- So let’s look at three reasons why we doubt.

I.) We doubt when we’re overwhelmed- Vs 1-9

- When I first started learning to preach, I was at Woodland Baptist learning from Pastor Trott, and he gave me the opportunity to preach the Sunday evening service.

- At the time, I was working on my Bible College degree, raising a family, and working full time at the bank.

- With sermon prep added on top of that, I had a very full plate!

- There were times when I felt overwhelmed.

- And when I felt overwhelmed, two types of doubt flooded my mind…

- One doubt was whether I was truly called to be a pastor or not.

- I was having such a hard time keeping up, and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight.

- If God wanted me to do this, why was it so hard and time-consuming?

- The other doubt I faced was in my sermon delivery.

- Pastor Trott is a very gifted preacher, and does a great job pastoring over at Woodland.