DEALING WITH DOUBT

        Everyone has doubts, especially about God. To experience times of doubt about God or our relationship to Him is part of being human. Doubt is feeling uncertain about truth, reality or the nature of something. We can’t see God, so we may wonder if He really exists. We see the beauty of creation, yet we wonder if it is the result of random time as scientists tell us. Humans beings seek proof. We’d like to be more certain.
        Is doubt sinful? It can show a stubborn pride if we insist on having proof for everything. Yet we live every day without proof. We turn on electronics and expect they will work because they worked yesterday. We live with our loved ones believing they will act or feel about us today as they did yesterday. True, hearing or seeing something differently today than we did yesterday may cause us to wonder. Wondering can be an element of doubt, but it’s not necessarily sinful.
        Some doubts are like temptations. They come to us through images, thoughts or words and it’s hard to stop them. Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that temptation is common to all people, but God will give us a way to overcome it. I believe we can say the same about doubts.
        Remember how Jesus prayed in the Garden asking His Father if there was another way to accomplish salvation? What He saw coming was painful and He prayed for another way. Was that temptation or doubt? Whatever the case, we know His Father didn’t condemn Him for it.
        Luther once said temptations are like birds. You can’t stop them from flying over your head, but you can and should stop them from making a nest in your hair. Occasional doubts can creep into our thoughts. It’s only when we insist there must be proof for everything that we betray a sinful pride.
        In a sermon I once heard the pastor give three principles for dealing with doubt: 1) Don’t run from your doubts or think having them makes you less Christian. 2) Deal with your doubts through God’s Word. 3) Remember - doubts are overcome by a person, not by a situation.
        Jesus is that Person. He helps us deal with our doubts in a beneficial way. But don’t expect doubts to disappear just because a few things change.
        The greatest of God’s Old and New Testament servants had doubts, and God helped them get through their doubts to a place where they had peace of mind.

“Lord have mercy on those who doubt.” (Jude 1:22)

Rev. Bob Tasler
www.bobtasler.com