Getting It Right No. 6.
How to deal with Doubt.
Read – James 1:5 – 8.
There is an old story that has been around for a while and I’m sure many of you have heard it before. It tells of man who was out hiking when he accidentally fell over a cliff. On his way down he grabbed for anything in sight and was able to hold on to a tree growing out of the side of a rock. As he held on in desperation he was calling out, “Help! Help! Anybody up there, help!” Just then he heard a voice from above him, “I am God. I can help you. All you have to do is just let go and I’ll save you.” He thought about it for a few moments and then he cried out again, “Anybody else up there? Help!”
Now I know that the story was meant to be humorous but it really isn’t if you think about it. How many times have you been in a difficult situation and you call out to God and He seems to be telling you to do something which is even more threatening and uncertain, and you feel like crying out, “Anybody else up there?”
Sometimes faith is formed in the midst of intense doubt or lack of assurance. Alfred Lord Tennyson, the great English poet of another age, wrote,
‘There lies more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.’
There are very few Christians who have not been disturbed by doubt. One such person was the great German Christian, George Mueller, who was primarily responsible for the creation of orphan homes in Bristol, England, for over 2000 destitute children, and did it all by faith. George Mueller never made any public appeals for funds, yet all his needs were met, sometimes at the last moment. Yet, by his faith he maintained schools, distributed literature, and supported missionaries overseas. When someone asked George Mueller if he was ever troubled by doubt, he replied, “Yes, I once doubted for about five minutes.”
How we wish we were more like George Mueller and less like Alfred Tennyson, but few of us are. The truth is, we are, for the most part, doubters. As we consider how the overcome our doubts, we need to begin by :
1. Identifying the Source of our Doubts.
What are the sources of your doubt and my doubt? Where do these uncertainties and perplexities come from to those of us who claim to trust in God as our Father and Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour?
A. Some doubts come from Disappointments.
Quite often when someone who we know and trust in the Lord disappoints us the result is that we begin to lose faith in God and doubt sets in. You see, there is a tendency in each of us to place our faith in God because we have seen someone who is trusting in Him in a strong way. But then, for one reason or another, that person lets us down, disappoints us, fails us or even deceives us, and our faith begins to falter. We ask ourselves, “Where was God when all this was happening? Why didn’t He stop it? Doesn’t He care?” And if my friend or mentor whom I trusted was such a wonderful Christian and he couldn’t make it, how can I?
The truth is however, that we can never really tell what another person’s faith and commitment really is? We hear what they say on the outside but we don’t know what is on the inside. We know little of what troubles his heart and mind and what circumstances in his life might cause him to fail God. So we shouldn’t base our faith upon where others stand but upon our own understanding and insight into the nature of God. When we know God in terms of His love, His mercy, His goodness, and His sovereignty, then our faith does not depend upon what others do but on our understanding of who He is. He is the God who sees, who cares, who loves us and causes all things to work together for good to those who live according to His purposes.
B. Some doubts come from Guilt.
A true Christian cannot live very long in a state of conscious un-forgiven sin without sooner or later beginning to doubt the reality of God or else beginning to think that God no longer hears his prayers. It is a great deal easier to reason faith away than it is to admit our guilt, especially when it involves admitting it to others who are negatively affected by it. How do I go to someone and say to them “I did this behind your back?”
In my ministry of counselling I have had many people come to me for help because there was something they had done to someone else that they were terribly ashamed of but too afraid to face that person and say, “This is what I did to you?” It helped when they found someone they could talk to about it, but when they kept it secret they rationalised it away and did the same to their faith in God. A guilty conscience that refuses to surrender to the living God ends up with a doubting heart.
C. Some come from bitter Suffering.
The best example I know of this is C. S. Lewis, the great English Apologist of the second half of the 2oth Century. C. S. Lewis had spent most of his lifetime defending the Christian faith, especially evangelical Christian faith. In the later years of his life C. S. Lewis married an American woman who had been diagnosed with cancer. They were married for only a year or two when she succumbed to her cancer. You can see the story in the movie ‘Shadowlands.’ Following her death C. S. Lewis went into deep depression and began questioning his faith in God. He said, when he prayed, he felt as though God had slammed a cell door in his face and threw away the key. You can read that story in a little book he wrote called ‘A Grief Observed.’
So there are disappointments, guilt, suffering and we could add to that neglect of our devotional life, disobedience to the known will of God, lack of good stewardship of life, and so on. All these things serve to bring us to a place where we find ourselves doubting God. The big question is, once we have identified the cause or source of this questioning of God,
2. How do I Overcome doubt?
A. Recognize that doubt is not your unique experience.
Everyone, at one time or another, experiences doubt. Peter did this when he walked on the water on the Sea of Galilee. Thomas doubted when He didn’t see the risen Christ for himself. C. S. Lewis, defender of the faith, doubted and even George Mueller did. And we too will face our time of doubting unless we are very unique.
It’s amazing, isn’t it, how we can counsel others to keep the faith when they are in trouble, but when difficulties hit us, it’s a whole new ballgame. We find it hard to exercise the same faith we try to cultivate in others.
B. Know that God’s timing is not the same as ours.
In Matthew 14, there is the story of how Jesus calmed the turbulent sea in which the disciples were caught in a fierce storm. The disciples were crossing the sea from somewhere near Bethsaida to go to Gennesareth, normally a six mile one hour crossing. Instead the disciples were rowing for some eight or nine hours and not getting anywhere. In fact, they were fighting desperately for their lives (Mark 6:48ff). From the shore Jesus saw the disciples struggling for their lives but he remained there praying while they struggled. Eventually he came to them walking on the water when it was almost morning. It was at the last watch of the night, between three and six o’clock, when the storm was at its fiercest, that Jesus came to them and stilled the storm.
A similar thing happened when Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. Jesus had received a message that his friend Lazarus was sick and near to death, but He waited and only went to the home four days after Lazarus had died and raised him back to life.
There are other similar incidents to this in the Bible. Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts and our timing is not necessarily His timing either. But He sees us from where He is and He hears our desperate cry, “Is there anyone up there?” and He comes in His time and His time is never too early or too late.
C. When in doubt, focus on God, not on your problem.
Read – John 20:24 – 28.
Thomas had so many questions about Jesus? Who really was He? Was He truly the Son of God? If so, why did He die upon that accursed Roman cross? Why did He not use His power to save Himself?
Do we not ask the same questions nowadays? Is Jesus real? Why doesn’t he stop this from happening? Can He truly heal the sick? Why doesn’t He heal me?
Jesus came to Thomas and when Thomas focused on Jesus all his doubts were cleared. You and I are called to focus on Jesus, not on the problem. Take the problem to Him, yes, but leave it with Him. Focus on His love for you, His mercy in times past, His provision throughout your life, and above all, His many promises to you – example Isaiah 43:1 – 2.
D. Nothing solves doubt like Obedience.
Remember the words of Jesus to Peter on the water? Peter said, “Lord, if it is you bid me come to you on the water.” Jesus replied, “It is I, come.” And Peter walked on water.
Remember His words to Thomas? Thomas had said, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand in His side, I will not believe.” Jesus said, “Put your fingers here…stop doubting and start believing.”
The invitation when we doubt is always to come back to Jesus. We come through His word. We come through prayer. When we come back to the place of prayer and His word in our lives, we are in the place of obedience and we find faith again.
E. Let your doubt drive you to the Source of all answers, not away from it.
Jesus Christ is still the answer to all our needs. The promise of God to us is, ‘…God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,’ Philippians 4:19.
‘Sholem Asch in his book Kiddish Ha-Shem tells of an incident that happened during the terrible massacre of Jews in Russian Poland in the Seventeenth Century. Men, women, and children were slain; families were divided and destroyed. Only death seemed active.
One of the survivors was walking down the streets in a denuded, deserted town trying to understand the meaning of it all. As he passed the market place, he saw the merchants with their booths already set up, selling articles of food and clothing.
In one booth an old Jew sat in rags. The strange thing about it was that his booth was completely empty of food or clothing, absolutely nothing to sell.
In amazement the survivor went up to the man and asked, “But your booth is empty. What do you sell?” The old Jew turned and looked at him with a sad smile and said slowly, “I sell faith. I sell faith.”’
(Luther Joe Thompson.)
There is really only one way to get rid of doubt and that is to increase your faith. And there is only one way to increase your faith and that is to use the faith you have today.
“Is there anybody else up there?” No. The same God who stilled the waters of Galilee, who showed nailed pierced hands to Thomas, who cleared Tennyson’s doubts and healed C. S. Lewis’ broken heart, is the God ‘up there,’ and He is up there for you.
