What do you do with doubt?
This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of Stormproof – Downpours of Doubt (CLICK HERE)
What do I do with my doubts?
Doubts will come.
The question is, “What will I do with my doubts?”
Every doubt needs some additional input to move from doubt to certainty.
If a product makes a claim in an advertisement, you may choose to buy the product and try it yourself. If the product does what it claims, you move from doubt to certainty about the product. If it does not do what it claims, you move from doubt to certainty about not buying the product again.
If I hear something from a political candidate that seems like an over-inflated claim, I can seek additional reporting, information, or first-hand witness to try to bring certainty to the doubt.
But sometimes getting new information is not easy or takes more time than we feel it’s worth. So we do nothing with our doubts and remain a skeptic.
Perhaps this can work in the product and political world, but not in the faith world.
Unsettled doubts tend to remain unsettled doubts. We can easily allow doubts to weaken the faith we have.
For example, if one doubts that Jesus ever lived, it would be hard to have a firm conviction that he is Savior. If one doubts that the miracles of Jesus are real, including his resurrection, it would be difficult to believe he is the Son of God.
Satan loves when we dismiss doubts and remain in uncertainty. Because every doubt is a foothold for a lie of Satan. Satan loves to take our doubts and move them to the realm of convicted unbelief.
Doubts will come, and doubts desire an answer.
The question is, “Where will I seek an answer to my doubts?”
As mentioned before, I can have first hand experience with a product or research the credibility of a political claim, but perhaps it’s hard with some of the doubts that come in my faith life. Let me offer these three action steps:
- Take them to the Lord in prayer!
If there is some aspect of your faith that has you doubting, let God know about it. Like a child who asks a parent for answers, so a child of God can let his/her heavenly Father know the questions with which they are struggling. He wants to be involved in moving your heart from doubt to certainty.
2. Go to the Word of God for truth and certainty about God.
Often time a parent says to a child, “What did I tell you?” when they have asked a question multiple times and still are struggling to accept the answer. God directs us back to his holy Word recorded from Genesis to Revelation that has as a primary focus communicating the message of salvation through Jesus, but also has a primary purpose of bringing certainty to our doubts. The Apostle John writes:
John 20:30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
3. Seek godly wisdom from a trusted, Christian friend.
Sometimes we are comforted by other people’s questions and spiritual journey to answers. Christian friends often wrestle with similar doubts. Hearing the journey God took them on to bring them to certainty can be helpful to a doubter. Even though Thomas had a hard time believing his disciple friends, they were there to lead him toward certainty. Jesus finished the task. Who knows where Thomas would have gone, if he didn’t stay close to his disciple friends. It’s friends like these that we need to lead us to understand God’s truth.
Doubts will come. Don’t let them separate you from God, but rather use them as an excuse to lean into God. Don’t be surprised when God honors that seeking and replaces your doubt with certainty!
Apply: Of the three suggested activities to help overcome doubts in our faith life, which have you used and which haven’t you? How might this help to bring certainty to any doubts you have.
Prayer: Lord, you know the doubts with which I struggle. Lead me to the solid teaching of your Word and the Christian friends that can be used by you to replace every doubt with certainty! AMEN.
Doubt and mercy…
This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of Stormproof – Downpours of Doubt (CLICK HERE)
Sometimes the biggest skeptics can be the people closest to you. A person’s inside circle is often a source of great support, but also when people see all sides of you, they can sometimes have an insight or perception that will be hidden from other people.
We know that there were individuals who followed Jesus for his time in public ministry that doubted even after the resurrection just before Jesus went into heaven. But even closer than his followers were his family.
And they doubted.
Mary, Jesus’ mother seems to be steady on her understanding that the child she was privleged to bear was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
However, Jesus’ brothers and sisters…not so much.
Mark 3:20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
And just a bit later…his family arrived:
Mark 3:31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Was Jude part of this group? Was he one that was a bit embarrassed by what his half-brother Jesus was doing? Did he perceive him as a lunatic that was out of his mind? Perhaps.
Maybe he was part of that group.
Maybe he observed Jesus patiently interact with his family, knowing they were doubters, but loving them enough to help them too from a heart of doubt to a confession of certainty.
Maybe Jude experienced first hand what he says in verse 22 of his letter:
Jude 22 Be merciful to those who doubt;…
Doubt is not a hard heart.
Doubt is not staunch unbelief.
Doubt is not a rejection of faith.
Doubt is being caught between believing two opinions or sets of inputs. Jude and his family were faithful Jews. They too were influenced by the religious establishment of the day which also discounted and rejected Jesus’ claim.
So Jude and his family found themselves in the middle of this tension.
And Jesus had mercy on his family and has mercy on all who doubt.
Why?
Because he wanted his family to be in heaven with him. Because he wants you to be in heaven with him. So he has mercy and does all he can to, in love, move hearts from doubt to certainty.
Just as he did with Jude.
Just as he does with you.
Apply: Do you know someone with doubts? How can you show mercy and be used by God to step into their doubt and help to move them to certainty?
Prayer: Lord, as always, thank you for your mercy which is patient with my doubts and always desiring doubts to be replaced with certainty of your love, grace and forgiveness in Jesus. AMEN.
Do you have to see it to believe it?
This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of Stormproof – Downpours of Doubt (CLICK HERE)
Are you one that has to “see it to believe it?”
Perhaps this depends on the source of the information that you receive. With the plethora of reels on social media, perhaps some are so far out that you think to yourself, “I’d have to see that to believe it.” If there is a trend in your child to not doing very well on their homework and they come home and announce they got 100% on an exam, you might say, “Let me see it before I believe it.”
Matters of faith also lead us to at times desire to “see it to believe it.”
We’d love to have a first hand glimpse at God creating the world.
Wouldn’t it be easier to believe that the Bible is truly God’s word if you could see God working through an individual to write the words that are in the Bible.
Perhaps it would be easier to believe that Jesus was the Son of God if you could have actually seen him alive.
We wouldn’t be the only person who wanted to see something before believing it. In fact, one of the 12 closest followers of Jesus had to “see it to believe it.” His name was Thomas.
He didn’t trust the other 10 disciples.
He didn’t trust the report of the women.
He didn’t even trust the words Jesus had predicted on multiple occasions prior to his death and resurrection.
He wouldn’t believe until he saw.
Thomas was one that Jesus chose to bring the message of the Gospel to the world. This message hinged on the certainty that Jesus really did rise from the dead. Thomas would be ineffective as a proclaimer of the Gospel if he had doubts about Jesus’ resurrection.
So Jesus turned the doubts into certainty by appearing to Thomas. The Apostle John wrote:
John 20:24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So 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.”
26 A 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!” 27 Then 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.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus’ heart is the same for us. The doubts we might have about him he desires to replace with certainty. We can be thankful that Thomas had doubts. Jesus stepped into those doubts so Thomas could have certainty and us through Thomas have the same certainty. Jesus affirmed his resurrection to those that could see him so that everyone who cannot see Jesus would have the same certainty and believe without seeing.
This is how God’s Spirit works.
He changes our need to see to believe to believe without seeing.
But it’s not a blind faith, it is a faith that is based on the facts of those who saw him.
Stop doubting and believe!
Apply: What doubts do you have? Is there someone in the Bible that had the same doubt? How did the Lord change the doubt into certainty. He can do the same for you!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for loving me enough to give me many reasons to believe you…even though I haven’t seen you. AMEN
Where does doubt lead you?
This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of Stormproof – Downpours of Doubt (CLICK HERE)
I Doubt it.
We have all had doubts in life. We doubt a news report. We doubt some exaggerated claim our children make. We doubt the weather report.
Doubt comes when we have a tension between two sets of information or opinions. What I believe to be true is challenged by another set of information. In a moment of doubt we are faced with deciding what we will believe and act on.
Perhaps some moments of doubt have little consequence in our life. If we don’t believe the weather report, we may find ourselves caught in a thunderstorm and a bit wet. If we don’t believe a news report, we move on and it has little consequence on our day.
Faith doubts are bigger deals.
Doubts that come into our faith life have the opportunity to do one of two things:
One, separate us from God, or
Two, solidify our faith in God.
Satan loves to not only create doubt in God and his Word, but keep the doubt growing until a person believes the lies of Satan over the truth of God. Consequence? Separation from God forever. This is a big deal.
The Lord loves to come into our place of doubt and solidify our faith. He doesn’t dismiss, condemn or leave us for having the doubt, but rather reminds us, encourages and removes the doubt with only the certainty he can bring.
Sure, he challenges our doubt and reminds us that he and his Word are always trustworthy.
Even the disciples had doubts.
Doubting Thomas is the most well-known.
John 20:24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So 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.”
26 A 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!” 27 Then 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.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Thomas had a lot of information. He had peers with whom he spent three years with. He had heard Jesus himself speak of his suffering and death. He had seen the miracles of Jesus. You would have thought he had enough information to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead…even though he had not seen Jesus alive himself.
Yet, he wanted to see it himself.
Jesus obliged him. But also reminded him. He didn’t have to see to believe.
But Jesus wanted him to have certainty.
He wants the same for us.
So, when we are challenged in a way different from the Words of Jesus, we can always trust with confidence, the truth Jesus gives.
Apply: What times in your faith life have you found yourself doubting? How did our doubt get answered?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your love that always wants to guide us to certainty when we have doubts. AMEN.
Ever been caught in a downpour of doubt?
This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of Stormproof – Downpours of Doubt (CLICK HERE)
Matthew 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
After three years of watching, listening to and asking questions of Jesus, some of his closest followers still had doubts.
Does this surprise you?
What perhaps is more surprising is in this moment, Jesus, who knows all things and knew some doubted, did not delay his return to heaven to address every doubt that lingered in the hearts of his followers. He simply reminded them of his power, gave them great purpose, and left them with a wonderful promise. (See Matthew 28:18-20)
But while he didn’t linger and answer every doubt in this moment, his disciples trusted enough to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit. As evidence by the work of the apostles in the first century, the doubts turned to certainty and the conviction of their faith led them to be great proclaimers of Jesus.
Doubts come on our journey of faith. I think it is safe to say that every follower of Jesus has had some sort of doubt in their journey.
Perhaps some doubt that God created the world in six days. Some may doubt that Jesus really was the Son of God. Some may doubt that they are loved by God. Some may doubt that God is truly a good God. Some may doubt they are forgiven.
Perhaps you have had doubts too.
It’s OK. Downpours of doubt can come at any time and sometimes unexpectedly. We can think our faith is rock solid, only to have a life experience that causes a tension between what we just experienced and what we believe God to be or say.
Doubt is standing in that tension. Literally that’s what one of the Greek words means that is translated “doubt” – to stand between two beliefs that then leads to an uncertainty in our belief.
We have all been there.
The question is what do we do with our doubts?
Dealing with doubts is certainly important because doubts can do one of two things. Doubts can lead us to separate from God (that is choose to believe the thought or answer that is contrary to the Word of God) or they will lead us on a search that leads to solidifying our relationship with God (which is God’s desired answer for all our doubts.)
God’s desire is always to overcome doubts with certainty. He wants our faith, trust, and confidence to be rock solid, so gives us what we need to alleviate the tension that doubt creates and walk confidently with our Savior. The Apostle John wrote, (John 20:30) “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
So this week we will explore the doubts that come and, with the Spirit’s help, be prepared for the downpour of doubt with the umbrella of God’s truth.
Apply: Do you have a doubt/uncertainty with which you are struggling today? If you are willing to share, email pastorgeiger@gmail.com and I will be happy to include a thought about it in one of this week’s devotions.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for a heart of love and the working of your Spirit that seeks to move us from our places of doubt to hearts of faith and confidence. AMEN.