Is It Wrong To Doubt God? Series

Is It Wrong to Doubt God?

Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-6. Psalms 73. John 20:24-28.

(If you feel this sermon is helpful, you are welcome to visit www.danachau.com for a free online course.)

Sometime ago one of my daughters asked me "If you could ask Jesus one question, what would it be?" I won't tell you my reply because I can't remember what I said. But we've all heard the encouragement to ask questions: There are no dumb questions. Really? Try theses.

What do you call a male ladybug?

Are part-time band leaders semi-conductors?

Can you get cavities in your dentures if you use too much artificial sweetener?

When I served with the college campus fellowship, Asian American Christian Fellowship, one of the concerns we dealt with was restoring college student's faith in God. Story after story were of youth who asked honest questions about Christianity, and church leaders responding with "you just need more faith." Soon they stopped asking and stopped believing.

There are at least three options: Believe. Doubt. Disbelieve. When we don't doubt, there is no guarantee that we believe. We may end up disbelieving. It depends on how we handle our doubt.

All of us ask questions about God. We ask Is there a God? If there is a God, what is He like? Is He good? Does He love? And does He love me? Or Is He angry with me?

We don't just ask these questions once. We ask these questions repeatedly over our lifetime. Especially during what I call "T" times. When tragedies strike. When temptations lure us away from God. When trials overwhelm us. When teachings contradict the Bible. Most, if not all of us, have been there.

Is it wrong to doubt God? Some equate doubt with weak faith. Maybe even unfaithfulness to God. Others accept doubt as a normal experience of everyone's faith journey.

We will look at real life doubters from the Bible to answer a few questions: Is it wrong to doubt God? How can we respond to doubt? And How do we help those who doubt God?

First, we will look at the real life doubters, Adam and Eve, from Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-6. We won't study this narrative in detail but look at how Adam and Eve responded to doubt. In short, they left what they doubt.

God said when you eat that fruit you will surely die. No longer be immortal. Satan said, "You will not surely die." And Satan added the temptation, "And you will be like God."

Adam and Eve didn't just doubt God's warning. They left God's warning behind. They left what they doubt. They ate the fruit when they heard a teaching that contradicted God's warning and a temptation that lured them to be in place of God.

A few weeks back, I met with an away college student. I asked where he was going to church and fellowship. He said nowhere. I asked why. He said he didn't believe anymore. I asked what happened. He told me that he got into a hot mess and that God didn't get him out of the mess. So he didn't believe anymore.

He doubted God. And he left what he doubt. This is one way to respond to your doubt. But I would not recommend this way. Here's what I shared with the college student.

When you are in trouble, don't leave the One who loves you and can help you. That's not wise. When God doesn't change the consequence of our action, He wants to change us. If you stay with God, he won't turn bad into good but He will bring good out of the bad. And you can grow in character, wisdom and ability.

What often causes us to doubt God and to leave God is an incomplete list of those involved in our tragedies, temptations, trials and teachings. We forget self with our sinful nature. We forget Satan with his spiritual forces. We forget we live in a sick world with floods, earthquakes and diseases.

So we blame God, doubt God, leave God, the One who loves us and can help us. That's what Satan wants. But I wouldn't recommend this response to doubt.

Second, we will look at the real life doubter, the writer of Psalms 73. (READ)

We won't study this Psalm in detail but look at how this Psalm writer responded to doubt. In short, he looked to the future and the past.

The Psalm writer contrasted his faithfulness but lowly condition with the prosperity of the wicked. This led to doubting God's goodness and justice. The question of the Psalmist is this: If God is good, why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people?

Then the Psalmist looked to the future. He saw that God doesn't punish the wicked or reward the righteous every day. But He will definitely do this in eternity.