Bout With Doubt

Introduction – When Doubt Knocks

A young man knelt before his beloved, ring in hand.

“Sweetheart, I love you so much. I want you to marry me.

I don’t have a car like Johnny Green.

I don’t own a yacht like Johnny Green.

I don’t have a house as big as Johnny Green’s.

I don’t have the money of Johnny Green.

But I love you with all my heart.”

She gazed tenderly into his eyes and replied,

“I love you too, sweetheart. But… could you tell me a little more about Johnny Green?”

It’s funny—and it stings—because that is how doubt works.

Doubt whispers another name. Doubt divides the heart.

The Latin root of “doubt,” dubitare, literally means “two.”

To believe is to be of one mind.

To doubt is to be of two minds—double-minded, pulled in opposite directions.

And let’s admit it: there are things we seldom talk about in church—pain, grief, and especially doubt.

Yet doubt is as real as gravity. I

t can creep in through tragedy, unanswered prayer, intellectual questions, or sheer fatigue.

So let me ask: What is happening in your life right now that is either shrinking or stretching your faith?

(Prayer)

Lord Jesus, You have promised never to leave us. Draw near by Your Spirit. Speak through Your Word. Give us tender hearts and open minds. In Your name, amen.

1. Doubt Is Not Unbelief

Christians wrestle with many kinds of doubt:

• Does God really exist?

• Is the Bible more than ancient fables?

• If God exists, is He truly good—does He care about me?

• Am I really saved when I still struggle with sin?

• Does obedience even matter when disobedience looks easier or more fun?

These questions are common and, by themselves, not sinful.

The opposite of faith is not doubt—it is unbelief.

Unbelief is a settled refusal to trust God.

Doubt is the struggle of a believing heart that wants to trust but wavers.

We live in a culture that prizes skepticism. Like swimmers in a salty sea, it’s hard not to absorb some of it. Even sincere believers may feel soaked in questions.

Illustration: When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969 and sent back images of a round earth, Britain’s Flat Earth Society refused to believe. Evidence alone doesn’t always convince. Doubt can persist even in the face of data.

Faith, then, is not the absence of doubt but the decision to trust God in spite of it.

2. The Bible’s Humanity and Divinity

Why do people lose confidence in Scripture?

• It was written in an alien culture with customs that feel foreign.

• It contains laws and miracles that stretch modern minds.

• At times it confronts and corrects us.

• It has been misused—quoted to oppress, to justify slavery, or to stir endless arguments.

You’ve heard the sarcastic questions:

“If I burn a bull as a sacrifice (Leviticus 1:9), must my neighbors enjoy the smell?”

“If Leviticus 19:27 forbids trimming hair at the temples, should every man be punished?”

“Exodus 21:7 permits selling a daughter—what’s the price today?”

Such jabs can rattle confidence.

But the deeper issue is understanding what kind of book the Bible really is.

Give people a multiple-choice question: (The correct answer is C)

A. The Word of God

B. The word of man

C. Both

The Bible is fully God’s Word—breathed by His Spirit.

And it is fully the word of man—shaped by language, culture, and personality.

That is no accident.

It is incarnation: God choosing to speak through human authors the way He chose to enter our world in Jesus.

Couldn’t God have etched Scripture Himself in heavenly ink? Yes.

Instead, He risked human frailty so His Word could meet us in human speech.

That is breathtaking.

Illustration:

You can chip paint from a Rembrandt to count layers and date pigments, but you will not have grasped its beauty.

You can measure the height and angle of a road sign, but its purpose is the message it points to.

Likewise, when we dissect the Bible only as literature, we may miss the Voice that speaks through it.

Healthy scholarship is good; endless deconstruction that never reconstructs is deadly.

Faith cannot live on demolition alone.

3. King Josiah—A Tender Heart

Enter King Josiah (2 Kings 22).

Eight years old when crowned in Judah, he grew to despise the nation’s idolatry—fertility cults, Asherah poles, and temple prostitution not unlike today’s obsession with sex.

At eighteen he launched a temple renovation.

In the rubble the priest Hilkiah made a stunning discovery:

“We have found the Book of the Law.”

God’s Word had been literally lost in His own house.

When Josiah heard it read, he tore his robes in repentance.

He sent messengers to the prophetess Huldah, who delivered sobering news: national judgment was inevitable.