Are You Doubting God? It's Ok!

TGIF guys! I’m sure a lot of us were looking forward to the weekend and I’m definitely one of them. While having my devotional (shout out to YouVersion for the daily devotionals) on this blissful Friday morning, the speaker while discussing Ps. 145:8 talked how he felt when he prayed for a loved one who had cancer. Unfortunately, despite his prayers, she passed away. This led to him having doubts in God. Many of us have been in situations when we prayed for something, anything. In some of these instances, maybe you even went on a dry fast because of how much it meant to you. And then you end up not getting it! Or you may still be in the midst of the battle and its beginning to look like it will never end. It’s only natural to have doubts in God.

 

Before we go any further, what exactly does doubt mean; and to answer this I googled (yes, googled!) it. According to google, doubt means a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction; or a disbelieve or lack faith in (someone). When you go through the bible, its easy to focus on the heroes of faith while overlooking those who experienced this human feeling. Even thinking back to the sermons I’ve heard, I don’t recall hearing a lot that talk about doubts or what to do when you have doubts, they tend to lean towards teaching us to have absolute trust. Even when I googled bible verses on doubt, I stumbled on 25 verses and majority of them talk about not having doubt, but then there were a few that talked about what God did when people doubted. So, it’s totally understandable that sermons usually focus on having absolute trust. How then do we deal with doubt when we are not taught about it? Do we fake it till we make it? Well, that’ll be dishonest of us. What tends to happen is that people get crippled by their doubt and over time begin to backslide. The bible says: we are not ignorant of the devil’s devices (2 Cor. 2:11), and you can be sure that the devil knows how to weaponize doubt.

 

Would it shock you if I told you that there were people that doubted God? Even among those that actually walked with Jesus physically. Let’s look at two of such people, with a sprinkle of another person. The first is the “mighty warrior” Gideon. You know him, the guy who went to war with 300 men against two nations whose numbers were so vast, the bible said they “were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts” (Judges 7:12). If you want to see the Hollywood version, watch 300; however, be warned that the only similarity between the movie and the bible verse is in the number of men (300) that went up against a mighty army. Going back to Gideon, this same man in Chapter 6 had so many doubts. Even when the angel called him “mighty warrior”, his reaction wasn’t “yes, that’s me”. His reaction was, naaaa, you’ve got the wrong guy (Judges 6:11-15). But guess what, God did not get angry with him. Even when he tested God with the fleece, God still did no get angry with him (Judges 6:36-40). Instead, He reassured Gideon.

 

The next person is our good friend, Thomas, who became known as doubting Thomas. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, don’t be a doubting Thomas. Well, he was THE doubting Thomas. Now in Thomas’ case, he even walked, ate, and spent time with Jesus physically. He was one of the twelve (John 20:24)! How then could he have doubts? I guess that’s because it’s a natural human emotion. In his own case, he was still reeling from the crucifixion of Jesus when news came through that some of the disciples had seen Jesus. Our friend Thomas said: “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Imagine hearing this from someone who was personally chosen by Jesus. Did Jesus get angry and strike him down? No! Instead, Jesus went directly to Thomas and asked him to put his fingers in the holes in His body (John 20:26-27). He reassured him!

 

Now let’s look at the sprinkle. You would know him as the Rock on which the church would be built (Matt.16:18). Yup, our good friend Peter; the same guy that preached to 3000 (Acts 2:14-42). Asides Jesus, he’s the only other person that has walked on water. In Matthew 14, the disciples were alone in a ship that was in the midst of a storm. Out of nowhere, they saw someone walking on water, and of course they assumed it was a spirit. And when the “spirit” informed them that it was Jesus, our friend Peter decided to test Him (Matt. 14:28). Jesus being Jesus told him to come but as Peter walked on water, the storm increased (like it wasn’t bad enough already lol), doubt crept in, and he began to sink. Did Jesus get angry and let him drown? No! Jesus pulled him out (Matt. 14:24-32). He rescued Peter from drowning.

 

From these examples, we can establish a trend. God did not get angry at any of them for doubting, instead He reassured or rescued them. That tells me, that its ok to have doubts. It shows that you are a human and in touch with your emotions. Yes, God wants us to have faith and trust in Him. But He also understands when we have doubts and because He understands, He gave us instructions on what to do. In Heb. 4:14-16, the bible tells us that we have a High Priest, Jesus (who is seated at the right hand of God), who sympathises with our weaknesses. Isn’t that great to know? We have someone at the highest of highest that has experienced what we are experiencing. All we have to do, is approach the throne of grace boldly that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need. The bible also tells us that He is our ever-present help (Ps. 46:1). When we doubt, what the devil wants is for the doubt to paralyse us and keep us away from the place of prayer. What God wants, is for you to carry that doubt to Him and ask for mercy and grace (Heb. 4:16; Matt. 11:28-30). As we enter into the month of August, the charge I have for you is to carry your doubts to God. He understands and is willing to help you. Its ok to have doubts.

Photo cred: Mysteryandmeaning