Doubt and faith. These are huge topics.
Let’s admit right up front that all of us find ourselves in the midst of doubt sometimes. Can you admit that openly? While we are sharing true confessions, let’s also admit that we really don’t completely understand faith sometimes either. We wonder what it really is and how it is supposed to work. Right?
In Matthew, chapter 17 we read where the disciples asked Jesus to “increase their faith.” Do you recall the man who asked Jesus to heal his child “if He could”? Jesus told the man he had to have faith and the man replied “increase my faith.” It appears from these examples that all people share something in common from a regular guy like me all the way up to the Disciples. We constantly have to go to the Lord and ask Him to increase our faith. Doesn’t that make you kind of wonder why faith seems to be so hard to come by for us all? Are we by nature, really that skeptical, or could it be that we don’t fully understand what God had in mind when He put such an emphasis on faith?
Let’s take a look at the flipside of faith. Let’s look at doubt. Doubt is a nasty, nasty part of our nature that goes way beyond being skeptical. Do you realize that doubt is the weapon of choice of Satan? It’s the number one rifle in his arsenal. Take a look at how things went down in the Garden of Eden. What was it that the serpent said to Eve that caused her to take the forbidden fruit and share it with Adam? The serpent said, “Did God really say that you could not eat from any tree in the garden?” All he had to do was place the tiniest fraction of doubt in Eve’s mind to cause the fall of mankind. From this I see that doubt is the equivalent to a nuclear weapon….complete with fallout that destroys slowly after the initial blast. The worst part of it though, is that ALL of us are very susceptible to it. None of us are immune.
You may challenge me on that last statement that none of us are immune, and ask what about the greatest of saints from years past? That’s a fair question. Let’s look at a few. How about Abraham, the father of the Jews? Well, he came to doubt that God would carry out His promise to make his family a mighty nation so numerous that they would be compared to the grains of sand on the beaches. He had no children even as an old man, so what did Abraham do? He tried to help God out by fathering a son with his wife’s maid, Hagar. Her son Ishmael is the father of the Arabic nations. Years later God fulfilled His promise by giving Abraham and his wife Sara a son, Isaac, even though both of them were well beyond the age of producing children. Did God need Abraham’s help? No. Did God do exactly what He promised to do? Yes. Did God fulfill His promise to Abraham, the way Abraham thought he should or as soon as Abraham thought He should? No. And it was due to the fact that God did not fulfill His promises in the time or way Abraham expected Him to that caused doubt to creep in. Abraham forgot the same thing we all are guilty of forgetting. God is sovereign. He operates according to His plan and according to His timetable. God does not need our permission or instructions to act.
For another example let’s look at Jeremiah. One of the most prolific writers in the entire Bible, Jeremiah was one of the all-stars of Prophets. When we read the book of Jeremiah, it appears he and God carried on conversations constantly, and yet even he was guilty of harboring doubt.
Please take a look at this scripture. I’ve chosen to use this passage from Jeremiah 15: verses 15b-18 from the Holman Christian Standard Bible simply because this translation really brings clarity to what Jeremiah was going through.
{Walk through verse by verse. Expository section}
If Jeremiah had moments like this, can any of us honestly say we are not plagued by doubt once in a while? I don’t think so.
So if Faith overcomes Doubt, why doesn’t it seem to work sometimes? Well, first we need to know what Faith really is and I don’t mean by man’s definition. Let’s see how the Author of our Faith defines Faith.
Let’s look at Hebrews 11:6. This verse reads, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Another important scripture to help us understand God’s provision for us is found in 1 John 5:14. This passage reads, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to HIS WILL, He hears us.”
There are some within the Christian community who believe they are promised almost anything they want. I call them the “name it and claim it” crowd. Let me hasten to say, these folks are our brothers and sisters in the faith, and I am certainly not pointing any fingers in their direction. I do pray for them, because I believe their faith is misplaced and will only lead them to frustration and disappointment…..and doubt! Their belief is that they can take things that appear to be a promise of God from the scriptures, and claim it for themselves, and it will be delivered to them as they want it. Another group of believers that I worry for is the “prosperity theology” group. Their reasoning says that since God wants us to be happy, He must also want us to be rich! Friends, I’ve looked all through the Bible, and frankly, I don’t find either of these faith structures there.
You see, if we place our faith in God and expect Him to set up shop under the McDonald’s Golden Arches so we can use the drive-through window and order meal number 4 with a side order of a new truck, a job promotion, and a few extra dollars in the bank account……..we are in for some major disappointments. God does not count it as faith on our part if we simply use the name of Jesus as a heavenly magic wand to get what we want. Our confidence in getting something from God…. IS NOT FAITH.
Some of our brothers and sisters hold to the belief that if we go through all the steps, claim what we want in the name of Jesus, and it doesn’t happen, our faith must not be strong enough. For them a person must become “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall Gentiles in a single bound. It’s Super Faithman!!!”
Moving beyond all that…….it does seem very clear to me that faith, in the eyes of God, is belief in a relationship…..a relationship with Him. God wants us to believe, without question, that He is who He says He is. That is faith. Anything other than that is misplaced confidence.
In the prayer of St. Francis, we pray that we can be the ones that helps to dispel doubt with faith. Now we know what faith, by God’s definition is, and that makes our task much easier. When a friend is struggling with doubt because they just can’t seem to make contact with God, we should let them know that it’s during those times when He seems most distant, that God is most active in their life. We look for God’s activity where we expect it to be when in reality we should be looking all around. It is not unusual for God to be working in a completely different area than where we expect Him to be. If a friend is torn by doubt because their prayers aren’t being answered the way they wanted, we should remind them that God always answers the prayers of His children. Sometimes, though, He says no, and when He says no, tell them to try to understand why He would say no. His good and perfect will for us is being worked out for our long-range benefit. He is a mystery to us because we see things only partially now in this church age, as if looking through a smoky glass, but the day is coming when we will see Him as He is and all things will be made clear to us then. In the meantime, stand fast in your faith in Him. He will never abandon us nor forsake us. Anchor your faith on knowing that He is who He says He is……and that faith will cause doubt to flee from you. Share this knowledge,…share this faith with others.
