Navigating the Waves of Doubt
John 20:24-31
This morning I want to introduce an idea to you that is so counterintuitive, you won’t believe me when I first tell you. I’m going to talk to you about doubt today and you’re going to doubt the truthfulness of my main point. Here it is: A little doubt will do you good … IF … if you learn to navigate its waves.
I’m going to stick with this metaphor because doubt really is like a boat tossed about by waves. Doubt literally means “two minds.” The doubting person vacillates between two points of view. On the one hand they want to trust God, but on the other there’s an experience or a thought or a feeling or a question that causes them to waiver and move toward unbelief. We’re tossed between competing currents.
People respond to doubt in one of three ways. If we’ve been around church or religious people long enough some of us mistakenly believe that doubt is a sin. We’re like the captain of a ship who ties the rudder to lock it in place. When waves of doubt come we hunker down and keep repeating the mantra, “You just gotta have faith! You just gotta have faith!” Others are like the captain of a ship with no rudder whatsoever. We’ve got no course at all and we simply spin around going nowhere at all. Then there’s the third group: their ship has a rudder, but they don’t tie it down. They accept the reality of the waves of doubt and learn to skillfully navigate them. Their faith isn’t swamped or capsized and they’re not lost at sea. Instead they wind up at exotic and delightfully unexpected ports of call. They find that a little doubt will do you good if you learn to navigate its waves.
Let’s take a look at a guy who learned this lesson well: good old doubting Thomas. We find his story in John 20:24-29
Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29
You’ve got to be careful with this story. Some people read the conclusion and wrongly believe that Jesus’ point was the Thomas just needed to have faith. To return to our metaphor, Jesus seems to be recommending that Thomas tie down the rudder. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if Jesus is counseling Thomas and us to just have faith and ignore our doubts we’ve got a contradiction to contend with because in the very next couple of verses John adds this:
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31
You don’t invite people to examine the evidence for Jesus and also tell them, “You just gotta have faith.”
The truth is that Thomas had more than enough evidence to conquer his doubts, but for some reason he opted not to trust. Think about it! Thomas had spent 3 years with Jesus. He had viewed the miracles with his own eyes. He had worked miracles with his own hands. But for some reason, he wasn’t able to connect his past experience with the Lord to the witness of his fellow disciples. He was like the captain of the rudderless boat because he wasn’t properly navigating his doubt.
In essence, Jesus had to slap Thomas back to reality. Most of us don’t get that opportunity and I think that’s why Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who need no supernatural intervention and yet successfully navigate their doubt.
What I’m going to give you next is the key to navigating doubt. You must do this or your ship will lose its rudder. Trace the source of your doubts. This is easy to do because there are only three:
1. Psychological or emotional doubt.
I begin with this one because I think this was the source of Thomas’ doubt. Consider his situation. He sacrificed three years of his young adult life following a man who purported to be the Messiah, the king of the Jews, the One who Thomas thought would throw off their Roman overlords, and establish Israel as the dominant nation on the earth. Thomas was expecting a conquering warrior. What he got was a suffering servant who was whipped to a bloody pulp and was executed in the most humiliating way possible. How could this be the Christ?
My guess is that the emotion Thomas struggled with was cynicism. Cynicism is
“An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others”
He built a wall to protect his hopes from ever being dashed again. It has been said that a cynic is an idealist with a broken heart, and such was Thomas. There is some evidence of this earlier in John’s gospel. I’ve always found it kind of amusing, but putting it together with this episode brings insight.
The incident I’m referring to can be found in chapter 11. Things weren’t going well for Jesus’ ministry. Many followers deserted Him and his countrymen in Jerusalem wanted to stone Him for claiming to be God. Jesus and his merry little band had to get out of town to an undisclosed location across the Jordan River. A few days later Jesus decided to go to Bethany, a town neighbor Jerusalem. Look at Thomas’ response:
So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” John 11:16
This is either the bold statement of a man ready to sacrifice all for his Lord or the sarcastic reply of a cynic who at that time viewed their mission as a disaster, his time and effort as wasted, and Jesus leadership as suspect. I opt for the latter. It fits perfectly with Thomas’ over-the-top doubt. And, as a recovering cynic who knows the language of sarcasm all too well, I think I understand how the kid was feeling.
Thomas’ doubt arose from his disappointment. I was emotional or psychological doubt. This happens to us when we’ve been hurt or suffered loss. Sometimes it happens when those we love are suffering. When Laura had a kidney stone a few years ago which would not pass and put her in agony, I felt so anxious and powerless to help that I found myself questioning God’s existence right there in the waiting room. Strangely, when the painkillers kicked in all was right with the world and God was in His heaven.
“The problem is not that reason attacks faith, but that emotions overwhelm reason as well as faith, and it’s impossible for reasons to dissuade them. [This kind of] doubt comes just at the point where the believer’s emotions rise up and overpower the understanding of faith. Out-voted, out-gunned, faith is pressed back and hemmed in by the unruly mob of raging emotions that only a while earlier were quiet, orderly citizens of the personality. Reason is cut down, obedience is thrown out, and for a while the rule of emotions is as sovereign as it is violent.” Os Guinness
So what do you do with emotional doubt? The one thing Thomas did not do made apparent by the fact that God had to come to him. Take your pain to God.
If you’re angry with God, disappointed, confused whatever emotion that’s leading you to doubt, bring it to Him. In prayer and quiet meditation, God will help you sort through what happened. He’ll show you your part in it and probably your sin. He may reveal something that you’ve wrongly taken to be a promise from Him. He may lead you to a promise through His word that brings comfort. Take it to God and invite Him into the pain as the Psalmist did:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23-24
You may need to take an additional step. Seek Christian counseling.
This may be as informal as a friend who will walk with you and tell the truth as well as help carry your burdens. It could be a little more structure like a support group of people who have experienced the same thing. Divorce care and grief share are two examples where believers can support one another and often be the mouthpiece of God to speak into your doubts. It may take a professional, some who is gifted and trained to go into your heart and shine the light of God’s word.
A little doubt will do you good if you learn to navigate its waves. You, just like Thomas, will find healing for your brokenness.
I’m going to spend little time on the second source of doubt because, frankly, I don’t think it’s an issue for most people.
2. Intellectual doubt.
This source leads people to doubt the truthfulness of Christianity. They are tossed by questions like: How can there be a good God when there is so much evil and suffering in the world?; How can I believe in miracles when science has disproven them?; The Bible is a book of myths and fables, and is filled with contradictions.; or Maybe the original writings were changed and what we have now is wrong.
If that’s you and you’re bothered by such questions, let me say with all gentleness, “Shut up and read one of the hundreds of books by outstanding Christian scholars on the subject.” Stop whining and do your homework. Listen to one of the dozens by Christian apologists out there. Watch debates between atheists and Christians. There is no excuse for being tossed by intellectual doubts except sheer laziness.
In my opinion, Thomas faked intellectual doubt and that’s why Jesus invited him to put his fingers in the marks of His resurrected body. That’s what I’d challenge you to do if you have intellectual doubts… Investigate the evidence
I am being harsh with people who say they have intellectual doubts because I know they can take it. They need the kick in the pants. I think it’s also helpful to… Become a consistent learner.
The more I interact with skeptics and intellectual doubters, the more convinced I’ve become that the biggest problem is a lack of understanding the Bible and Christian doctrine. One of my former students who is now an atheist once criticized the Bible because it says that God is a jealous god, but then tells people that it’s a sin to covet. Oh the hypocrisy, he opined! Do you know what a statement like that tells me? He doesn’t know the Bible, basic vocabulary, or how to do a Google search. Jealousy is protective. God is jealous for His people because following other gods leads to enslavement and destruction. Covetousness is nothing like jealousy. To covet means to desire what someone else has and to destroy them to get it. I wonder how many Christians are tripped up by such “intellectual” doubts just from a lack of learning.
A third source of doubt which I do not think Thomas suffered from at all is…
3. Moral doubt.
This one is sneaky and deadly. Moral doubt question the rightness of God’s moral law because the doubter wants to sin. You often find this with Christian young adults who head off to college. They come home on break claiming that they have intellectual doubts about the faith they once held too, but if you look closely into their lives you’ll find that partying and premarital sex are really behind it all. They want to get out from under moral accountability and the quickest way to do that is to become an atheist.
Celebrated atheist and author of the ultra-depressing but amazingly prophetic Brave New World once put it this way:
For myself as no doubt for most of my contemporaries, a philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. … We objected to morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. - Aldous Huxley
Note how, according to Paul, sin affect the mind:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:18-21
If you’ve ever wondered why our nation has become so foolish consider those verses. When we want to violate God’s moral law we doubt His moral law and then reject it and Him and lose touch with reality thereby becoming fools.
So what do you do, if moral doubt is the issue? Confess your sin to God. God is quite willing to forgive the sin and instantly heal the doubt and guilt.
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the “LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 32:1-5
If it’s a stubborn, habitual sin, get accountability. Find some brothers or sisters to ask you tough questions and hold you to God’s standard. Get people who genuinely care and want to see you set free. Don’t partner with Christians who confuse love with being nice.
A little doubt will do you good if you learn to navigate its waves. Find the source and follow the steps I’ve described today. What’s waiting for you is healing from whatever is generating the waves of doubt. In addition, you will get more of God. My favorite part of the story is Thomas’s exclamation when his doubts were shattered: “My Lord and my God!” That’s the good doubt will lead you to after you’ve navigated its waves.
