DOUBT

This is a subject which troubles many people, especially those who are true Christians, for we feel we are betraying God.  I remember reading a well-known and devout Minister stating, the person who can truthfully say he/she had never had any doubts about the faith, is a person who had never given a lot of thought about it.

It is essential to recognised there is doubt, which makes you wonder how something could possibly happen, and unbelief which denies any belief. But a Christian can stop and think at first hearing of an event, and on reflecting accept in good faith. Seek to resolve by fighting any doubt.

The Bible has books in which doubt is raised, the Psalms and Job particularly suggest feelings of doubt. The answer to doubt is fact, which counters where doubt is expressed. Within the Old Testament there were many prophecies, which have all been fulfilled.

In 2 Timothy 4, Paul tells Timothy to preach the Word of God at every available opportunity, as there will be false prophets who will be in the Church, and there will be people who will not wish to follow sound doctrine.  Paul went on to describe what is virtually a typical page of our daily newspapers.  Money seekers, people boasting, scoffing God, full of pride,  unloving and betraying friends, disobedient children to parents, nothing Sacred.  Is that not a portrayal of a daily tabloid?

I know that when I preach or when I write, I state what I believe, and when a man stands up to preach, he should preach his faith, not his doubts. People have enough troubles of their own, without me adding to their burden.

I don’t know how a person could be a Christian and not have doubts from time to time. Faith requires doubt in order to be faith. If you ever arrive at a place where all your doubts are gone, you will know that you are in heaven.

This is one of the hidden secrets of the church. We all doubt from time to time. Doubt itself is not sinful or wrong. It often can be the catalyst to new spiritual growth. First, there are intellectual doubts. These are doubts most often raised by those outside the Christian faith. Is the Bible the Word of God?

Second, there are spiritual doubts. These tend to be the doubts of those inside the church.  Even Christians are grieved and devastated when they lose someone in death or abandonment, and the cry often raised is why did this happen to me?  There is nothing like a broken heart, and you  wonder if there is still a God in heaven.   There are a lot of puzzling questions to ask about suffering, to which we will not be able to answer this side of heaven.

Suffering is probably the biggest cause of doubt. We read in the Bible of people who faced health problems, which Jesus healed.  The non-Jewish mother who asked Jesus to heal her daughter, and when Jesus said he had come for the Jews, her reply revealed her faith in him, and the girl was healed. Numerous other cases fill the gospel of Jesus healing purely on the fact that the person seeking his help had faith.  Jesus responded, everything is possible for him who believes”

The most well-known biblical story regarding doubt is of course the Apostle Thomas.  When Jesus first appeared to the Apostles after is resurrection, he was missing and doubted the other Apostles’ account of Jesus appearing. He would always henceforth be known as doubting Thomas.  

Whilst Jesus was on a mission, he received a message that his friend Lazarus had died. He wanted to go to Bethany to see the family, but the Apostles where apprehensive, as they remembered the last time Jesus went there he was almost stoned to death.  Only Thomas at first agreed to go with Jesus, but all went.

He was with Jesus during all the last few days of his life, intensely loyal and deeply committed to Jesus. He was completely honest about his doubts, and wouln’t be satisfied with second-hand answers.

Tell God your doubts, cry out and ask for his help. And don’t fight the battle alone. Go to a Christian friend, a pastor. Ask them to walk with you, but confidence is in God and God alone.”

The Bible tells us stories of brave fighters who fought for God. Abraham had such faith he was ready to sacrifice his son, but knew God would  step in. Moses who endured all manner of hardships, as he led the people of Israel through the wilderness, but knew God would provide a way through.

Daniel who when in captivity, refused to obey Nebuchadnezzar’s order not to pray.  He knew he would be punished and placed in a lions den, but had faith  that God to rescue him. This resulted in God being glorified.

Noah was told by God to build an Ark in the desert, and did as guided. All the people thought he had gone mad, but he carried on.  Iitagine that happening in our time, the desert would be filled with television crews and reporters, and it would be like a great circus.

In our own days, with Billy Graham, we had the greatest preacher of the Bible in Christian history, who could fill stadiums and all manner of places with many thousands of people at every meeting  At one meeting a quarter of a million assembled to hear God’s Word being preached. This was obviously a man specially gifted by God, for there could be no other explanation for such numbers of people brought to know Jesus Christ by one man’s preaching. He stated there were parts of Scripture he did not understand, but accepted all, in faith.

Our lives have a mixture of hills and valleys, twisting roads and roundabouts. The next time you have doubts, think of those brave men, who had so much more than you will have to face. Read the gospels, which are full of heart warming stories of Jesus and his healing, and faith building. Put your faith in his ministry, and make the truth known.

God made a beautiful world, and he keeps it so, despite mankind spoiling it at every opportunity they get.  Think of how the world revolves, with tides being able to be forecast with such accuracy, because of God’s precision.

Remember Christ came to this earth and chose to die on a Cross, so that we could have our sins forgiven, and be made righteous before God; that God raised him from the dead to be the first fruit of all those who can follow him to live in glory for all eternity.  The resurrection is doubted and rejected by such a lot of people, including many within the Church, but eminent lawyers have stated the facts of the resurrection are the best attested evidence of all time, witnessed and recorded by those present.

How likely is it that many brilliant men and women gave up lucrative careers to travel the world, and live in harsh and dangerous conditions for hundreds of years, and the message they took is still alive?  Prophecies made in the Bible have been fulfilled.

The next time you have doubts, remember the opposite of doubt is fact, and have faith in the Word of God.