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.
- So I felt overwhelmed by trying to do as good as him, trying to impress him and trying to keep people’s attention…
- I remember feeling doubt all the time, feeling like I did a horrible job, and could never do this…
- Thoughts ran through my head such as thinking Pastor Trott would give up on me or the congregation would request for me to stop doing Sunday nights.
- These thoughts were completely unfounded, but the reason they were there was because I was overwhelmed, and it was causing me to doubt!
- Here in Exodus 6, that’s where we find Moses…overwhelmed and doubting…
- Remember, back in vs 22-23 of chapter 5, Moses said, “Why have you brought trouble on your people? Why have you sent me? You haven’t delivered for your people at all!”
- One of the biggest reasons Moses was feeling overwhelmed at this point was because the people in vs 21 of chapter 5 blamed Moses for their troubles…
- So not only had Pharaoh rejected Moses and made him look like a fool, but Moses’ own people were rejecting him, blaming him for Pharaoh’s cruelty.
- And of course, Moses was doubting God because Moses was feeling overwhelmed.
- So how does God respond to Moses?
- First, He tells Moses, “Now watch what I can do!”
- Remember, the first time Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh, they didn’t perform any signs or ask Pharaoh to completely release their people from captivity…
- No, the first meeting with him was a “Last chance” opportunity for Pharaoh to recognize that these were God’s people, not his, and he needed to free them.
- Now, God’s saying, “Okay, Pharaoh. You had your chance to take the easy way out. Now I’m going to do things the hard way, and I’m going to force you to let my people go!”
- So Moses didn’t need to be overwhelmed and doubting, because God was going to make things happen.
- Second, in vs 2, God reminds Moses of who He is…
- “I Am the Lord, the same God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…”
- God is telling Moses that just like He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Patriarchs, He also was God of His people the Israelites, and He was with Moses.
- He even says in vs 3, “By my name LORD I was not known to them…”
- What’s that supposed to mean?
- It’s fascinating when you start looking at the Hebrew meanings of God’s name.
- To the Patriarchs, God was known as El Shaddai, which means God Almighty, or the One who provides or sustains.
- So, the Patriarchs knew God the “Covenant Maker” because He chose to make a Covenant with them.
- He promised them that their descendants would number more than the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.
- He promised them the land of Canaan, the Promised Land.
- However, not one of them got to see the Promise fulfilled in their lifetime.
- They believed it, but they didn’t experience it.
- Now, to Moses and the Children of Israel, He is revealing more of Himself, through His name, Adonai, which means, “Faithful” …
- Moses and the Israelites were going to know God as the “Covenant or Promise Keeper…”
- So now, as Moses is feeling overwhelmed and doubting, God is telling him, “Moses, you and the Children of Israel are going to have the pleasure of seeing and experiencing the fulfillment of my Promise.”
- That’s why in vs 4-8, the third way that God responds to Moses is by reminding him of the Covenant, and He promises Moses and the Children of Israel that they’re about to see His Mighty Hand bring His Promise to pass.
- Sadly, in vs 9, when Moses tells the people the good news, they don’t believe him.
- They were too overwhelmed with their burdens that they refused to look up and see that God was already working on their behalf.
- What about you and me as Christians?
- Are there times when we’re overwhelmed, and because we’re overwhelmed, we doubt God’s promises?
- I think we’d all answer yes.
- One day, everything’s going just fine, when suddenly, “Bam!”, we’re smack dab in the middle of an overwhelming trial.
- It’s so overwhelming that we think God’s forgotten about us and He doesn’t care…
- I’ll give you a personal example.
- Just a couples weeks ago, my family was enjoying some time away in Bangor for a few days.
- When we were driving back, as soon as we got on the interstate, the vehicle overheated.
- There we were, stranded on the highway, cars zooming past, and I didn’t have any water or coolant in the vehicle.
- Well, after the vehicle cooled down, we made our way over to the garage, and they were able to fix it, but it wasn’t cheap!
- A little plastic piece in the radiator had cracked, and they replaced it.
- It was an unexpected problem, with a very expensive fix, and a very stressful afternoon at the end of a relaxing vacation…
- At first, I was feeling overwhelmed, and doubting God, wondering why on earth something like this could happen…
- Did I do something wrong and God was judging me for it? By allowing this to happen, was God showing us that He didn’t care about the little things in our lives?
- And of course, the answer is no.
- God reminded me that this could have happened in the middle of nowhere, after dark, on Route 9 with no cell phone signal…
- He reminded me that this could have been a lot more expensive than it was and at least it was fixable…
- And He also taught me an important spiritual lesson about forgiveness that I really needed.
- So looking back, I can see God’s hand at work through the entire trial.
- When we’re overwhelmed, and we’re doubting God, it’s important to remember that God’s not going to leave us.
- Scripture says in Isaiah 41:13, “I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
- It’s also important to remember that He will comfort us.
- In Isaiah 51:12, we read “I, even I, am he who comforts you.”
- So if you’re overwhelmed by something this morning, I encourage you to go to God’s Word and ask Him to remind you of His many promises to those who belong to His family.
II.) We doubt when others doubt- Vs 10-13
- Years ago, I went to a Jeremy Camp concert in Lewiston with some friends.
- I hadn’t ever driven through Lewiston before, and I didn’t have my GPS with me, but I thought, “How hard could it be?”
- When we got to Lewiston, I was in for a surprise…
- Some of the streets downtown are one-way…
- There’s a lot of traffic…
- And Lewiston is a lot bigger than I thought!
- Well, I thought I could still find it if I drove around…
- There was one spot where I thought, “I think it’s up this road here. That road sounds familiar.”
- But my friends said, “No, it’s not over there. I’m pretty sure it’s a little further up.”
- Well, since my friends doubted that was the right direction, so did I, so on we went.
- About 30 minutes later, we finally stopped at a gas station and my friend asked a police officer for directions…
- It turns out, the road I thought it was on, actually was the road…
- If my friends hadn’t doubted, then we would have made it to the concert on time.
- Instead, we were late, the concert had started, the auditorium was really dark, and we had a really hard time finding seats!
- I doubted my original instinct because my friends doubted, and of course that led to us getting lost.
- We find a similar problem here with Moses.
- The Children of Israel doubted his words, and because they doubted, it caused Moses to doubt God.
- So in vs 12, Moses is questioning God…
- “How is Pharaoh going to hear me when your people won’t even hear me?!”
- He even goes so far as to call himself a man of “uncircumcised lips…”
- What does he mean by that?
- He’s referring to the speech problems that he has…
- Remember back in Chapter 4:10, he told God, “I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue…”
- I believe this means he was not confident when he spoke before people, so he’d get nervous, and stammer over his words, mispronouncing, and hesitating…maybe even stuttering…
- Yet God has already addressed this issue with him, back in chapter 4, so there’s no reason Moses should have been bringing this up once again.
- Think about what’s happening here…
- Moses is talking directly to God Almighty.
- He’s already seen the power of God through the miracles God has performed for him so far...
- Yet here he stands, questioning God because the people are doubting.
- I guess he figures, “See, Lord, I tried, and it didn’t work…I can’t do this!”
- We really can’t be too hard on Moses here, though, because we do it all the time.
- For example, we feel the Holy Spirit leading us to share the Gospel with someone, and we know what to say, but we’re afraid, and we doubt…
- Maybe other believers are discouraging us from sharing the Gospel with that person because “…they’ll never listen…” or “…they’re hopeless!”
- Just like Moses, we let doubt get in the way…
- But notice the response from God here…
- Vs 13 tells us He gave Moses and Aaron a charge unto the Israelites and unto Pharaoh, to bring His people out of Egypt.
- This shows us just how patient God is with us…
- He understands that we are just human beings, and He understands that we doubt, and we can’t see the big picture like He can…
- Instead of striking Moses down for once again questioning Him, God instead reminds him that He was calling him and Aaron to do this.
- So this was God’s way of taking Moses eyes off of himself and his doubts, off of the Israelites and their doubts, and off of Pharaoh and his stubbornness, and instead directing him to look at God alone!
- So even though Moses was doubting, God was using it to build endurance in him.
- After all, this was only the beginning of 40-years’ worth of difficulties as the leader of Israel.
- Moses was going to need to have a thick skin, and God was going to help him with that!
- What about you and me?
- How can we handle doubt when others doubt and are causing us to doubt?
- The answer…Bring your doubts to the Lord.
- That answer might sound simple enough, but oftentimes it’s one of the hardest things to do when we’re doubting…
- It’s hard to do because our doubts consume our thoughts…
- And if you’re like me, it’s hard to focus on something else.
- Yet Moses does the right thing here…he brings his doubts to the Lord.
- I think sometimes, we’re afraid to bring our doubts to God because we’re afraid He’s going to be upset with us for questioning Him…
- Yet He already knows our hearts anyways, so He sees and hears those doubts in us before we even bring them to Him!
- So remember, our doubts are no surprise to the Lord!
- And thankfully, He is faithful, and He is always bigger and stronger than any of our doubts.
- Lamentations 3:22-24 says, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.”
- Psalm 61:1-5 is another Scripture we can go to when we doubt…
- "Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. For you, God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name."
- So if you’re struggling this morning with some doubts, don’t let them linger in your mind.
- Bring them to the Lord in prayer, give them to Him, and ask Him to remind you of His faithfulness and His love for you.
- Wouldn’t you rather listen to our Great God who is all Powerful and will never leave us, rather than the voices of mere human beings who are causing you to doubt?
- Honor God by choosing Him over your doubts and the doubts of others.
III.) We doubt when we forget- Vs 14-27
- When I worked at the bank, I had to memorize a lot of different passwords and combinations.
- On top of that, the combinations and passwords were always changing!
- So one of the ways we remembered them was by having them written on little cards that we kept on us.
- That way, we didn’t have to worry about completely forgetting one of them.
- Of course, to make this work, that meant you had to have the combinations with you at all times.
- On more than one occasion, I’d go into work, and I’d realize that I had forgotten my combinations at home in my other suit jacket or pants.
- So there I’d be, kneeling down in front of the locker that contained my cash drawer, and I couldn’t remember what the combination was.
- Sherri will tell you, I was calling her all the time, asking her to read the combination to me over the phone so I’d have it.
- I should have had that combination memorized by heart…and most days I did…
- But there were some days when I’d just forget, and while going over the numbers in my head, I’d doubt the numbers because I had forgotten…
- The correct combination was in my memory somewhere, but the more I doubted, the harder it was to remember the correct combination.
- I think Moses was facing the same problem…his doubt was causing him to forget God’s Promises.
- So here in vs 14 to vs 27, we find an interesting bunch of verses that are inserted, almost like they’re in parentheses…
- It’s the genealogy of Moses and Aaron.
- Why is it inserted here?
- I believe the reason is because at this point, God was reminding Moses that he was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…
- As a descendant of those men, the Patriarchs, God was reminding Moses that he was a child of the Abrahamic Covenant.
- God promised He would be with Abraham’s descendants, and that they would number more than the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.
- He promised Abraham that his descendants would inhabit the Promised Land, the Land of Canaan.
- The Children of Israel were currently in captivity in Egypt, but the Covenant was not discarded.
- God was going to use Moses and Aaron to bring His Covenant people, the Israelites, out of captivity, and lead them to the Promised Land.
- I think it was fairly easy for the people to forget that promise because of the bondage they were under…
- And I think as Moses was doubting, he was probably forgetting the Covenant as well.
- So what a great place for God to insert this genealogy as a reminder to Moses and His people that God’s Covenant was still valid…
- God was not going to let Pharaoh keep His people in captivity.
- God’s time for action had come, and Moses was about to see God’s Mighty hand at work in delivering His people.
- What about you and me?
- Are there times when we forget what God has promised us and we doubt?
- Absolutely!
- For example, if we have received Christ’s gift of forgiveness and are part of His family, then we know from Scripture that He will not cast us away and that no man can pluck us from His hand…
- We know that we are in a relationship with Him and are on our way to Heaven…
- We know that our sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ and we are forgiven!
- Yet there are so many times when we forget that…
- When we’ve given into sin, or have struggled with a habitual sin that we can’t stop, we look at ourselves with shame, and think, “God must be so upset with me. There’s no I can be forgiven.”
- You know where those thoughts are coming from?
- From Satan…In Scripture, He’s called the great accuser, and that’s what he’s doing, accusing us of being unlovable and unforgiveable…
- Yet Jesus smiles down and reminds us that Scripture says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us…”
- You know how far that is? Infinite! Unmeasurable!
- We’re human beings, we’re going to keep sinning during our life here on Earth…but those sins are no longer counted against us…
- Christ paid the price for our sin through His death on the cross!
- And one day, we will be with Jesus, and thankfully, we will have sinless bodies, worshipping our Lord forever!
- A.W. Tozer tells a story about a time when he went out to nature to spend time with God, and he was feeling overwhelmed with guilt about the sin in his life.
- He sat down and cried out to God…
- Then the Holy Spirit reminded him of His grace…
- He said he could sit there with you and me and write a book with all of the sins he’s ever committed in his life, and it would be a huge book, probably millions of pages long…
- Yet that book would have an ending…
- His sins are finite, but God’s grace is infinite, and His grace has no end!
- Tozer was reminded of how awesome God’s Promise of Forgiveness through His Grace truly is.
- I like to tell that story because I’ve struggled in the past with guilt about past sins, and guilt when I sin today…
- Yet God has already forgiven me, He’s already forgiven you…
- Satan wants us to dwell on those doubts, and forget that God has said He’ll never leave us or forsake us…
- He wants us to forget that Christ died once and for all that all who believe on Him may not perish but have eternal life…
- So, Christians, I encourage you today, cast all of your doubts aside…
- If you’re overwhelmed with doubt, give it to our God who cannot be overwhelmed!
- If you’re doubting because others have doubted and discouraged you, give that doubt over to God who never doubts and cannot be discouraged!
- If you’re doubting because you’ve forgotten God’s promises to you, give that doubt over to God who does not break His promises and can never forget them!
- Don’t doubt, cling to Christ.
- If you’re here today, or watching on the tv, and you’ve never given your life to Jesus because you think you’ve done too many bad things, or you think you’re unlovable, or you doubt that Jesus would die for a person like you, I’m here to tell you that you can’t out-sin the love and grace of God…
- He created you, and knows the number of hairs on your head, He knows everything about you…He does love you, no matter what kind of person you are, and He will forgive you, if you’ll only believe and turn to Him today.
- Don’t delay in making that decision.
- Let’s pray.
