“He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6)
If the truth was ever told about the effect that doubt could have in your life, the above verse hits the nail on the head.
Doubt is expected in the life of every believer. So don’t be discouraged when doubt comes your way. It’s never a permanent condition and the irony of doubt is that it always brings with it an opportunity to grow closer to God.
I recently lost a good friend. I wondered how, until Robbie said: “I’m less concerned about how and more interested in why?”
I haven’t mourned like this since my Dad died in 1977. My friend’s death, a prominent local pastor in Georgia, forced me to doubt God’s wisdom and re-think my beliefs. I was comforted by the over 4,000 mourners that attended his funeral, but ultimately reminded me only God can console me from the emptiness and shame that came with the doubt I experienced.
Doubt will never give you the confidence you need to ride out the storm of confusion that it inevitably brings, but God will reward you for enduring that storm.
My recent doubts about heaven actually strengthened my faith, but not until I searched my heart and answered some tough questions about what I believe.
It has been said that to believe with certainty, we must begin with doubting. That’s a spiritual truth that was played out in the Bible through an encounter that Jesus had with one of his own disciples, Thomas.
Thomas was not present when Jesus first appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, so he didn’t believe his friends when they told him they had just seen Jesus. “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,” he told them. (John 20:25)
A week later, Jesus came to his disciples again, and this time, he went straight to Thomas. “Put your finger here,” he told Thomas, “see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27)
Did you hear what Jesus said? He said, “Stop doubting and believe”, but not before he told Thomas that it was okay to touch and see. To believe with certainty, we must begin with doubting.
Bill Gaither was once so plagued by the confusion that doubt brought his way, he wrote a song about it, but not until it forced him to answer some tough questions, too. Listen to his advice.
I believe. Help thou my unbelief.
I take the finite risk of trusting like a child.
I believe. Help thou my unbelief.
I walk into the unknown, trusting all the while.
I long so much to feel the warmth that others seem to know.
But should I never feel a thing, I claim him even so.
I believe. Help thou my unbelief.
I walk into the unknown trusting as a child.