Doubt
Have you ever doubted God? I only know of one person who never did so: Jesus. He trusted His Father absolutely – even to the point of taking our sins and dying for us. He has always been in a relationship of mutual love and trust with the Father and Spirit. But we humans are a different story. We are finite, created beings. And we live in a world tarnished and tainted by sin. Sin is about falling short of God’s standards, but so often it finds it’s origin in doubt. When the serpent tempted Eve to rebel against God, he did so by inviting her to doubt God and God’s good intentions.
short of God’s standards, but so often it finds it’s origin in doubt. When the serpent tempted Eve to rebel against God, he did so by inviting her to doubt God and God’s good intentions.
“A lot of folks in our churches,” says philosopher theologian Dallas Willard, “have not been taught to question; they’ve been taught that doubt is a bad thing. Some people believe that if you doubt, God will maybe drop you from the subscription. But doubt is a good thing when it keeps you thinking about who God really is.”
The real question is how we deal with our doubts. Do we take them to God, or do we hide them away from Him and others? Do we look for answers, or do we assume that there will never be any answers? Do we, as Willard suggests, doubt our doubts as well as doubting our beliefs?Are we willing to risk talking about our questions and our doubts? Ignoring or suppressing them isn’t a sign of faith: it’s evidence of a lack of faith!
Imagine doubting that a spouse or friend actually cares for you. You might choose to pretend that you don’t doubt it – but won’t it subconsciously affect your relationship? Won’t it colour every interaction you have with them? What if, instead, you shared your doubts with them? What if you tested if the relationship was strong enough to bear the weight of your doubt?
Abraham is known as a man of great faith. But he and Sarah were also big doubters. They thought they could hide it – but God called them out. Will we let him do the same for us?
Today’s text: Genesis 17
0 Comments