Pain, while unpleasant, serves an important purpose in our bodies. Generally pain signals that something is wrong, that some part of our body is not functioning properly or has been damaged. Often, if a person just ignores pain, they will do greater damage to their body or they will allow some physical problem to become worse. Doubt can serve a similar function for us in spiritual matters. Doubt may signal to us that we have unresolved inner issues that need to be addressed. Doubt may reveal a lack of genuine intimacy with God. Doubt may show us that we are putting too much reliance on ourselves and not enough on the Holy Spirit. If a person never feels a twinge of doubt, it may be because he is living superficially, not digging into life in a way that turns up hard questions, not engaging in the work of building God's kingdom in a way that pushes him beyond his own abilities into the realm of the Holy Spirit's work.
Some confuse having genuine faith with living without doubt. I disagree! Faith is trusting God even when doubts blow about us like Fall winds! Against that doubt, we exercise faith and it grows stronger! What does the Bible say? "Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1, CEV) Believers who have gone through the deepest trials, while exercising faith in the face of terrible suffering, emerge with an even greater faith. That faith doesn't always result from a "happily ever after" ending. It grows because we overcome doubt by trusting God anyway.
In Mark's gospel, we meet a father whose son was terribly tormented by an affliction that made him have seizures and harm himself. For years this man had been helpless, watching his son suffer. Then he heard about Jesus' authority over sickness and demonic torment and he brought his son to the Lord. Here's the way the Gospel records this event.
So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was very small. The evil spirit often makes him fall into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us. Do something if you can.”
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly replied, “I do believe, but help me not to doubt!” (Mark 9:20-24, NLT) That boy went home well!
The line that stands out to me is the father's response to Jesus' call for faith. He knew he needed God's help to overcome his inner doubt. He was a creature of both faith and doubt. He had the faith to bring his son to Jesus, but even then wondered how a situation that had gone on for so long could change. Can't you identify with his ambivalence? We, too, are a mixture of faith and doubt. We need not hide or deny our doubts, but we must not let them control us. Instead, we should lay them before the Lord with humility, asking Him to grant us eyes of faith that see the unseen, a heart of faith that takes hold of that which is yet a hope, so that His will is done in us and through us. What a prayer - “I do believe, but help me not to doubt!”
In a 1st grade Sunday School class we don't ask a child to think very critically. We teach them concrete lessons using the stories of the Bible. Sadly, some adult Christians never want to leave 1st grade Sunday School behind. They want simple answers, quick solutions, and iron-clad guarantees for every situation. But a life of faith doesn't work that way, does it? Faith causes us to step away from what we 'know' and to trust God's power and wisdom. Peter was invited out of the boat on the Sea of Galilee and walked on the water, until he realized he was doing the impossible and let doubts overwhelm him. Even then, he knew his true source and yelled, "Help me, Jesus!" Jesus didn't tell him to buck up, to start swimming until he got more faith, or to just go ahead and drown. He met the impulse of faith, though small, with loving care. "Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. “You don’t have much faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”" (Matthew 14:31, NLT)
God invites you and me to a walk of faith. If we say, "yes," to Him we must not think that all the storms will go away, that every troubling doubt will dissipate, but we can expect to see amazing things happen.
Greater faith opens the door to greater doubts, which then cause us to rely even more on the One who is always Faithful. Here's a word from the Word to keep in your mind today. Let it inspire faith so when God says, "Let's do the faith walk into the impossible," you will be ready to say, "Let's go!"
Yet I still ...hope when I remember this:
The unfailing love of the Lord never ends!
By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction.
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him.
(Lamentations 3:21-25, NLT)
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