Questions of Doubt?
Thesis: We all face times of doubt in our life and the most critical part about doubt is how you manage it in your life.
Opening Illustration: Clip from Backstage Volume 1 by Blue Fish TV. This Interview is with Jars of Clay as he talks about “Seasons of Doubt”
Introduction:
Doubting - That which is uncertain; that which distrusts or hesitates; having doubts about something.
Joel Smith seeks to define doubt in light of how we define faith. Listen to what he says:
What is faith?
By definition you’ll see that faith is not the absence of doubt. Here’s a description of faith straight out of the Bible.
It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
Faith is belief. The opposite of faith is not doubt. It is unbelief. There is a difference between doubt and unbelief, so let’s define it as well.
What is doubt?
Doubt literally means “two minds.” The doubting person vacillates between two points of view. In the Old Testament, the prophet, Elijah called the people to make up their minds about who was really God. He defined doubt quite well:
“How long will you waver between two opinions?” 1 Kings 18:21 (NIV)
Doubt is best defined as the inability to decide if something is right or wrong. Doubt is not unbelief but it is the inability to decide which way to go. One day you go one way the next you go another way.
Doubt affects everyone at different points in life. It can surface in tough times, in good times, or even in the midst of a miracle. Doubt’s come and go in life and the key is learning how to mange doubt in a constructive way. Think about those times in your life when doubt started tugging at your mind. What happened?
Have you ever doubted God’s presence in your life or God’s direction in your life?
The reality check is we all have at one point or another doubted or had questions about God and about His ways in dealing with things in this life. Peter doubted after he had listened to the Lord and walked on the water. He trusted the Lord and he did walk on the water but then when he was out there on top of the water he got sidetracked and started to doubt. His doubt surfaced when he started looking at the circumstances surrounding his miracle walk that’s when he started to sink. Jesus asked Peter “Why did you doubt?” Mt. 14:31. Truth is we have all had similar experiences like Peter. We trust the Lord we move out and then the waves of doubt flood our minds. Praise the Lord that when we doubt and start to sink we can always call upon the Lord to help us up.
The key to understand about doubt is how do we respond it? God is not afraid of our questions to Him. He is not upset with us when we get a thought filled with doubt. He knows we will have those moments of doubt. The key is how do you handle those moments of doubt?
Do you take your eyes off of Jesus?
Do you run away from God?
Do you abandon the ways of God?
Or do you turn to God for answers and ask for a response to your doubt filled thoughts?
Matthew 21:21 tells us to have faith and do not doubt.
The reality is doubt does come into our lives at different points and we must learn how to deal with thoughts of doubt. Jesus tells us to combat doubt with faith. Faith is the trust in God that He will work out the situation and that we need to let God handle things His way because He knows what is best.
We are told to believe not doubt, to not allow doubt into our hearts (Mk. 11:23) the idea in the teachings of Jesus is focus on faith not doubt. Doubt will rob you of your faith if you give it place in your life and in your heart. Doubt will destroy your faith if you allow it to take root in your heart and control your life.
Denis Haack has this to say about the questions of doubt:
Just about everything about doubt is unsettling. It’s unsettling to doubt, especially if the stakes are high and if we find ourselves doubting when everyone else seems content. It’s unsettling to discover that sometimes our very best reasoning isn’t sufficient to resolve our doubts, or that the search for answers simply increases our uncertainty. It’s unsettling to meet Christians who never seem to doubt, and who are unsettled instead by the fact we doubt things they consider settled. And it’s unsettling when non-Christian friends hesitate to believe, and raise an endless stream of doubts instead. Unfortunately the church speaks only rarely about doubt, and often in terms that cause doubters to hide their doubts rather than resolve them. “Christianity places a premium on the absolute truthfulness and trustworthiness of God, so understanding doubt is extremely important to a Christian,” Os Guinness writes. “Of course, faith is much more than the absence of doubt, but to understand doubt is to have a key to a quiet heart and a quiet mind. Anyone who believes anything will automatically know something about doubt. But the person who knows why he believes is also in a position to discover why he doubts. The Christian should be such a person.” Without doubt, doubt and its relationship to faith, knowledge, and unbelief is worth some careful reflection by the discerning Christian. Understanding doubt is important not only for our own faith, but also if we expect to help others come to faith and resolve their doubts biblically.
T.S. - So let’s explore this subject of doubt and let’s allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us about how best to manage these questions and indecisions in life. Let’s look at a few Scripture texts and see what the Bible does about doubt.
Scripture Texts:
Mark 9:20-27: 17A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
19“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. 22“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
23“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”
24Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
25When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
26The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
Jude 1: 22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
James 1: 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
T.S. – Doubts will surface in our life and we need to understand that everyone wrestles with doubt at different time frames in their life. We must approach our doubts like this father with the request to the Lord of, “Help me to overcome my unbelief!”
I. Doubting is a natural part of life and God is not threatened by it nor should we be.
a. We have all faced those moments of doubt like this father with the possessed son. It’s more common than you think!
i. One author on the internet wrote: The writer Frederick Buechner calls doubt the "ants in the pants of faith," stirring things up. When we observe contradictions between what we believe and what we see around us, it is healthy and natural that we have questions. God knows our need for reassurance and he can use that need to teach us more about Himself, about what we believe and why we believe it. When we come to him with genuine questions--"Who are you?" "Why should I believe you?" "How can I know that what you say is true?"--he does not turn us away or condemn us for our questions. When John the Baptist sent messengers to ask Jesus whether or not he was really the Christ, Jesus didn’t criticize John for asking. In fact, he answered with an encouraging reminder of his own proven track record (Luke 7:20-23).
ii. The famous poet Alfred Lord Tennyson once wrote that "There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds."
iii. Don’t use doubt as an excuse to turn away from God. Instead, commit to spending more time reading God’s Word and coming to the Lord with your doubts.
1. He is not afraid of your doubt and if you are sincere and searching he will meet you right were you are at.
2. Reference Josh McDowell’s book Evidence that Demands a Verdict.
a. He doubted the existence of God and the Bible and then set out to prove his doubts right. But in the midst of trying to prove his thoughts right he discovered they were wrong and became a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
iv. The Bible is filled with people who doubted just read through Psalm 73, you see a disillusioned author bringing his doubts and frustrations to God.
1. Psalm 73
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always carefree, they increase in wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 As a dream when one awakes,
so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
v. Many biblical characters faced their seasons of doubt and we also will find ourselves facing these same types of moments in life.
1. Abraham (Genesis 12-13)
a. Fear of a certain situation can launch us into doubt even when we are on a mission from God.
2. Gideon (Judges 6:33-7:11)
a. Doubt can come when God calls us to do something for him. But we can ask God for clarity in what to do in a situation and he will show us.
i. Notice God answered with the fleece.
ii. He will answer you too with a confirmation of some type.
b. God can tell us to do something that does not seem logical and that can make us doubt.
i. Gideon was told to take fewer men into battle.
1. This definitely raised the questions of doubt in his life.
ii. The key is we must allow faith to dominate in these situations instead of doubt.
3. Peter (Matthew 14:30-31)
a. Doubt can surface in the middle of a miracle.
i. Just because we are in the middle of a miracle does not mean thoughts of doubt won’t rise up.
ii. Peter walked than doubted and sank.
iii. He doubted because he saw the winds and the waves and maybe said, “I cannot be doing this and down he went!”
b. I have discovered that when we have a really anointed and powerful service here at New Life then inevitably I will get these thoughts of doubt flooding into my mind the next day.
c. We need to understand that doubt will flood our way in the good times and in the bad times. Really in all times is what I should say.
4. Thomas (John 20:24-29) experienced doubt.
a. Doubt can raise its head after going through severe trials and tragedies.
i. He saw what happened to Jesus.
ii. He experienced the loss and the pain.
iii. He experienced the fear for his own life.
b. Even one of the disciples struggled with doubt.
i. Why do you think most of them ran away?
b. Even modern Day men of the faith admit they have doubts at different times in life.
i. C.S. Lewis is portrayed in the movie Shadowlands as a man struggling with doubts about God. Shadowlands is about his life and reveals the awful ordeal he had to go through with his wife dying of cancer: I discovered these thoughts on the internet about this movie:
1. Jack’s grief was intense. His "faith--so ardently championed in his books--was shaken to its very foundation." 7 Attenborough’s film visually captures this dark period of doubt and bitterness. The suspense builds as the viewer wonders if Lewis can continue to regard death as a simple river-crossing on a bridge built by the great Bridge Builder. Shortly after Joy’s death, Jack attends a social gathering. Everyone turns as Jack enters the room, quietly whispering, one by one, "so sorry, Jack," "so very sorry." Harry Harrington (Michael Denison) reminds him that "we see so little here." Faith, he points out, is all that sustains one. "Only God," he says, "knows why these things happen." Jack turns on him with a vengeance, angrily shouting: "We’re the creatures in the cosmic laboratory. I have no doubt the experience is for our own good, but it still makes God the villainous vivisectionist!" The film lays out the harsh reality of death.
a. Moments like this usually bring on the wave of doubt into our lives.
2. Lewis’s "Grief Observed," claims Ralph C. Wood, is "darker than anything in Kafka or Sartre." 10 Lewis accuses God of being a Cosmic Sadist, an evil tyrant. Lewis later described the book as one "which ends in faith but raises all the blackest doubts en route." 11 In the film, a drained Lewis, sitting behind his desk, voices his Grief Observed thesis. He turns to his brother and admits: "I’m so terribly afraid. Of never seeing her again. Of thinking that suffering is just suffering after all. No cause. No purpose. No pattern. No sense. Just pain, in a world of pain."
ii. Lee Strobel revealed this thought about doubt:
1. If faith never encounters doubt, if truth never struggles with error, if good never battles with evil, how can faith know its own power. In my own pilgrimage, if I have to choose between a faith that has stared doubt in the eye and made it blink, or a naïve faith that has never known the firing line of doubt, I will choose the former every time.
Gary Parker as quoted by Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 2000), 243.
iii. Philip Yancey
1. “Doubt is the skeleton in the closet of faith and I know no better way to treat a skeleton than to bring it into the open and expose it for what it is: not something to hide or fear, but a hard structure on which living tissue may grow.”
Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God: What Can You Expect to Find? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 2000), 41.
iv. Pastor Joel Smith states:
1. God doesn’t condemn us for our doubts. He uses them, and seems to lead us into situations that bring them, to make our faith stronger. Here’s one example from the Bible. A man’s son was possessed by an evil spirit and he brought him to Jesus for healing. At first Jesus’ followers tried to cast the evil spirit out, but they couldn’t do it. Of course this man began to doubt. Look how he expresses it and watch Jesus’ response to his doubt. Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. Mark 9:20-27. The man was wavering between belief and unbelief. Jesus didn’t condemn him. Instead, he healed his son. This was a faith strengthening moment. Do you think this guy ever doubted Jesus’ ability again? No way. (This quote comes from Sermon Central contributor Joel Smith)
v. Pastor Brian McLaren of Cedar Ridge Community Church notes:
1. Doubt. It’s like a spiritual drought, a starless night of the soul, a low tide when faith seems to have retreated forever. Nearly all of us experience these dry, dark, difficult times when God doesn’t seem real and it’s hard to keep going, much less growing. Sometimes these low tides of faith are connected with events … the death of a loved one, a broken relationship, the loss of a job, a prolonged illness, questions raised by a book or professor. But sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere; it’s sunny and bright outside, but inside you feel dark, cloudy, gray, empty. As a pastor, I have to deal with matters of faith and doubt on a daily basis. But it’s not just other people’s faith struggles I have to face; I experience my own high and low tides of faith even in the midst of an active ministry. Through it all I have learned that doubt can be a doorway to spiritual growth.
vi. Church Swindoll: “And I can assure you that this author for God understands when you find yourself cornered in doubt. I’ve been there more times than you’d ever believe. You are definitely not alone” (74, Getting Though the Tough Stuff).
1. One of the greatest spokesmen for the cause of Christ today is Chuck Swindoll, host of the national radio broadcast "Insight for Living," for many years a pastor and now president of Dallas Theological Seminary. Howard Hendricks, who was one of Chuck’s teachers while he was in seminary, remembers him as a real go-getter in school. Howard said, "I felt this guy was a winner from the moment I met him. He always set in the front row. His questions were extraordinarily perceptive, and even after class the questions did not stop. It was abundantly clear that this man had a bright future ahead of him" However, Chuck says that he struggled with self-doubt for years and at times even thought of quitting the ministry. One factor that helped him to hang in there was his relationship with his mentor Howard Hendricks. As Chuck puts, "Hendricks believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself." Jesus also believed in his disciples even when they didn’t believe in themselves. Contributed to Sermon Central by: Paul Wallace
vii. I also have had doubt surface in my thoughts and life and I too have felt corned at times by the onslaught of doubt.
1. But I have learned to press into God with my questions and doubts and ask for clarity or peace in dealing with them.
2. I have come to understand that doubts are not necessarily bad it’s all about how I manage and deal with them that determines, whether they are constructive or destructive.
T.S. – Doubt’s are faced by everyone and they are more common than many care to admit but we must make sure we allow them to be constructive in our lives and not allow them to become destructive.
II. Doubt and its focus can either lead us closer to the Lord for answers or lead us away from God and into hopelessness.
a. The key in dealing with doubt is how you handle them!
i. Doubt can be good in one sense and very bad in another sense.
1. Pastor Mclaren states: When committed Christians come to me to talk about their doubts, one of the first things I say to them is this: doubt is not always bad. Sometimes doubt is absolutely essential. I think of doubt as analogous to pain. Pain tells us that something nearby or within us is dangerous to our physical body. It is a call for attention and action. Similarly, I think doubt tells us that something in us … a concept, an idea, a framework of thinking … deserves further attention because it may be harmful, or false, or imbalanced.
ii. Does your doubt lead you to God for answers and assurance?
1. God is in the answering business.
a. He wants us to come to Him for help!
b. Remember He is the one who said, “Ask” and you shall receive! Don’t ask then you receive not.
iii. So when you doubt bring them to God like the Psalmist did in the Bible.
1. He will help you deal with your doubt by strengthening your faith.
b. When does doubt become destructive and disrespectful to God?
i. Doubt left unchecked and unmanaged can toss us all over the place and set us into a life of unbelief and hopelessness.
1. James tells us this in James 1: 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
2. Listen to this man’s story.
a. Larry’s doubt filled life from Illustrate Volume 1 Blue fish TV.
i. Larry and his doubts
ii. Do you let doubt take root in your heart and then allow it to dominate your mind and your direction in life?
1. When doubt controls and rules then you are experiencing destructive doubt.
2. Destructive doubt causes you to lose hope and to lose your faith centered lifestyle.
iii. Thomas came close to going over the edge with doubt:
1. John 20: 24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” 26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
a. When doubt refuses to believe the testimonies of others we are stuck in the destructive kind of doubt.
b. When doubt causes us to be cynical and arrogant then we have fallen prey to the destructive side of doubt.
2. Thomas is given correction by the Lord and he gives us a warning about the danger of allowing doubt to control our perspectives in life.
a. Doubt unchecked can make you very cynical and cause you to look at life in the wrong perspective.
b. Doubt uncontrolled can make you live a skeptical life were you never believe or trust anyone.
3. God tells us that those who believe and do not doubt will be greatly blessed in heaven for their faith.
a. So we must learn to believe – have faith - so that doubts can be pushed to the background and not allowed to reign in the front of our minds.
b. A mind controlled by doubt is a very unstable mindset. It is very dangerous!
i. Doubt: Doubting God’s Word
1. J. Wilbur Chapman tells of the time he attended one of D. L. Moody’s evangelistic services in Chicago. After the service Mr. Moody sat beside him. He asked me if I was a Christian. I said, "Mr. Moody, I am not sure whether I am a Christian or not." He very kindly took his Bible and opened it to \reference{John 5:24}{John 5:24}, which reads as follows: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." I read it through, and he said: "Do you believe it?" I said, "Yes." "Do you accept it?" I said, "Yes." "Well, are you a Christian?" "Mr. Moody, I sometimes think I am, and sometimes I am afraid I am not." He very kindly said, "Read it again," So I read it again. Then he said, "Do you believe it?" I said, "Yes." "Do you receive Him?" I said, "Yes." "Well," he said, "are you a Christian?" I just started to say over again that sometimes I was afraid I was not. Moody became angry. He turned on me with his eyes flashing and said, "See here, whom are you doubting?" Then I saw it for the first time, that when I was afraid I was not a Christian I was doubting God’s Word.
T.S. – Doubt can either be constructive or destructive in our life and it’s about how we manage this doubt. So let’s learn how to manage our doubts.
III. Doubt can be managed!
a. How can we manage doubt?
i. We do it by asking questions and if we ask the questions in the right manner and in the right way there can be spiritual growth when the answers come our way from the Lord.
1. It’s okay to present our doubts to the Lord. The Psalmist’s did it frequently in the Psalms.
a. We can ask the questions and then listen for the answers.
b. We can ask the questions and also understand there may be no answer at the moment. The we have to have faith and trust God.
2. Remember doubt can actually help us to grow in our faith.
a. This process can and will help us to mature in our faith if we allow it too.
ii. We must honestly face our doubts like the psalmists and heroes of the faith have.
1. You do not deny your doubts you verbalize them to trusted others and to God.
2. God has placed people with spiritual discernment in this life for us to go talk too when we have those times of doubts.
iii. We manage doubt by learning the truth about God.
1. False thoughts and deception will cause us to doubt.
2. Satan in the Garden of Eden got Eve to doubt God by throwing at her deceptive – rebellious thoughts.
a. Genesis 3: 1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
3. Satan will always try to twist the Word of God so that we start to doubt the very words of God. This is why it is very important to know what the Word of God says about how to live life.
4. The Bible paints a clear picture of who God is and what He is like. We need to know this so that we can deal with doubt appropriately.
iv. We manage doubt by changing our selfish attitudes toward our lives and toward God’s ways.
1. Pride is all about glorifying self and this mindset will fuel the flood of doubt about the things of God.
a. Because we think life is all about us! This will cause doubt to rise like a Tsunami in our lives.
2. To deal with doubt we must deal with self first!
v. We manage doubt by trusting God in the midst of uncertain situations.
1. Who do you trust? This will help you either manage doubt positively or negatively.
2. Jesus expressed over and over the importance of believing!
a. Jesus reminded John the Baptist about his track record so as to deal with the doubts John was facing.
3. Jesus wants us to believe-to trust- to grow our faith when the thoughts of doubt flood in!
a. When doubts come release your faith to deal with them!
b. Chuck Swindoll gives us insight in managing doubt and making sure that doubt is not in control but that our faith is in control.
i. He states, “Now the real question is how. How do we grow this new kind of faith in the tough stuff of doubt” (73)?
1. First, by risking and failing, not always playing it safe.
a. Faith deals with doubt by stepping our into the sea of unknown.
b. Faith says “Yes, Lord I will go and then doubt slides out of the way because faith is in control of the ship.
2. Second, we keep growing by releasing and losing things valuable, not finding security in the temporal.
a. Doubts can be controlled if we learn to let go of the temporal things in this life.
b. Many doubt whether God loves them because he does not give us everything we want. He loves us enough not to spoil us to mature us in this life.
3. Third, we continue to grow by questioning and probing the uncertain, not mindlessly embracing orthodox.
a. Go ahead ask questions, write a letter to God about your doubts and then sit back and wait for His answers. They will come! Maybe not right at this moment but they will come!
b. God will respond either with an answer or with a sense of peace when there is no immediate answer.
4. Fourth, we grow by admitting and struggling with our humanity, not denying our limitations and hiding fears.
a. We understand that we have limitations in life and we will face uncertain times in this life but that does not mean that God is not there. He promises to always be there in these times we just have to place our trust in the Lord.
Conclusion:
Approach God with your doubts and questions, and let him gently remind you of His changeless character and his absolute trustworthiness. God is not afraid of your doubts he desires to help you to grow in your faith. Remember Jesus said “Ask and you shall receive!”
PLENTY FOR EVERYONE
Corrie Ten Boom says: “Often I have heard people say, “How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic and look at the lovely weather!” Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. “No, Corrie,” said Betsie, “He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word “For as the heavens are high above the hearth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.” Corrie concludes, “There is an ocean of God’s love available-there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love-whatever the circumstances.” Contributed to Sermon Central by: Jeff Simms
So lets go out of here today and learn to manage our doubts the Biblical way and live a life filled with hope not a life filled with hopelessness!
