Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive

anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:6-8. 

“Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” John 20:25

Doubt

You watched as He collected His team of misfits,
Looked on as He befriended the unsavory.
You traveled with Him, as He traveled with them,
And never saw a sign of vainglory.
Your heart was touched when you witnessed
How He treated those who were vilified.
He led them gently from shadow to light
As He dispelled their reason to hide.

But when you try to remember your time with Him,
Try to go back and immerse in His love,
You can’t recapture the intensity
Of the feelings those moments were made of.

You lived years of laughter and camaraderie,
Interspersed with confusion and awe.
Was your teacher the son of a man, 
Or, was He actually the Son of God?
So often, He spoke in parables
That you never quite understood.
 But He told you not to worry,
When the time came, He promised, you would.

When you think back you have to wonder
Why none of you were prepared?
Why did His death blindside all of you
When it was something He often shared?
But you thought He was the warrior Messiah,
After all, you were raised on that myth.
So, your focus was on conquering Rome
You never once imagined His death.

Now, you can hardly look back to that time 
There’s too much shame and guilt to endure.
It’s not easy to admit you let God down
By breaking promises to which you swore.
And you believe you’re still letting Him down 
By holding on to the guilt and shame.
Because He only agreed to die on the cross
To forgive in the Father’s name.

 He taught you how to break free from guilt 
You know how to let go of shame.
Just, fall to your knees and repent,
He still forgives in the Father’s name.

You witnessed the nets filling with fish
Watched as the Leper’s skin cleared.
In awe you watched a child’s life restored  
And demons cast out amid fear. 
You’ve witnessed so many miracles,
 More than you’re able to count
Yet, when you wake alone in the dark
You can still hear the voices of doubt.  
Linda Troxell © March 28, 2022

Doubt

The voice of doubt is interesting; if we are honest, it’s something we all hear. But where do the doubts come from? And whose voice is that taunting us? The reasons we doubt are as many and varied as Christians themselves, I suppose. But a large portion of them come straight from the enemy. As he has done for millennia, he invades our minds and implants thoughts and then he turns them into doubts.   

Of course, all doubts don’t come from the enemy. But, all of the taunts about our doubts do. It may sound like the voice of our mom, our dad, or our first Sunday School teacher, but no matter the words he uses, and no matter the voice he hijacks, it’s still our mortal enemy taunting us. He is a practiced and worthy adversary who has been introducing doubt since He first led Eve to doubt what she heard God say in the garden. 

You would think that in the Christian world it wouldn’t be difficult to dispel doubt. Since the Bible is the Word of God, it seems it should be the best way to resolve doubts about God or biblical things. Unfortunately, some people have a difficult time trusting the Bible because they believe it has done more harm than good. I can’t dispute the fact that the Bible has been used to cause serious harm. However, I will dispute that it has ever caused harm when used as it is intended. 

The Bible is meant to give wisdom, comfort, and support. But it has often been used, or more accurately, misused to frighten, undermine, and assert power over others. What the Bible says about doubt and faith has frequently been twisted in order to instill fear and manipulate whole congregations. This is the kind of thing that gives Christianity a bad name and erodes trust in the Bible. Let’s look at an example.

The following verses have often been twisted and used to cause some Christians to suffer from shame and guilt, both of which are very corrosive. 

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:6-8. 

Using this passage out of context easily leads those who have doubts; i.e. all of us, to believe that because of our doubts we can’t expect God to answer our prayers. But if we read the passage carefully, as written, we find it doesn’t say that. 

In verse 6 James tells us that we who have doubts are “like a wave on the sea, blown and tossed by the wind”, in other words, we are wavering back and forth between belief and unbelief, we are chaotic and unsettled. Then in verse 7, he tells us that this wavering, unsettled person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  

This has been interpreted by some as saying God punishes our doubt by not answering our prayers. However, in reality, it means that doubt causes us to be double-minded, having one foot in belief, and the other in unbelief. Meaning that in that condition we are unable to receive anything from God. (emphasis mine)

This is a very important distinction that dispels the false contention that God punishes us, in this case for our doubts, by not answering our prayers. This cannot be true because God doesn’t punish, He may discipline, but He doesn’t punish. Using the fear of punishment to make people love God has never worked and it never will.   

In these verses, James is not saying God won’t answer our prayers when we have doubt. He’s saying that when we have one foot in our beliefs and one foot in our doubts, we are unable to be focused enough to pray effectively. And our emotional state is not conducive to recognizing God’s voice or believing He desires to answer our prayers. 

In this position, we simply need to first pray for God to help us settle our thoughts and feelings and center ourselves in the safety of His love. He will help us to settle down until we can pray and receive Him effectively.   

At this point, you may be asking why I think my interpretation of these verses is correct and the other’s incorrect? I hope many of you have asked that question. Because this is just the kind of doubt we all should have. How do we know what we’re being told is true? I hope my response will be helpful for you in discerning the meanings of unclear verses going forward.   

When we are trying to discern the meaning of verses such as the ones we have just discussed, passages in which the author’s meaning is less than explicit and there is more than one way to interpret the meaning, it can be confusing. 

But less so if we remember this one simple rule: always go with the choice that is most reflective of God’s nature. That’s it. It will never fail because God’s behavior is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He never changes, and never goes against His nature. 

In the verses above I know my understanding is correct because it is in keeping with God’s loving nature, while the other interpretation portrays God as petty, spiteful, and punishing. If we know nothing else about God, we know He is love and will never behave in an unloving way. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8.

The other interpretation can cause people to believe that if not for their doubt, someone they love would be alive today. Can you imagine the weight of believing that because of your doubt a prayer to save the life of someone you love was unheard by God?  

Perhaps the meaning of the verses wasn’t twisted deliberately. Perhaps many people were only repeating what they were told. But that doesn’t change the fact that many Christians live in shame because they believe God has punished them for having doubts. 

This is but one simple example of how the Bible can be twisted to confuse us. Sometimes it may be done as part of an agenda, other times maybe it’s just ignorance or someone passing on what they were told.  But we cannot overlook that sometimes it is done to manipulate and gain power.

The important takeaway here is that the Bible doesn’t cause harm. Some untrustworthy people use the Bible to cause harm, but that doesn’t make the Bible harmful or untrustworthy. Perhaps it goes without saying, but I have to say it anyway: those who can’t be trusted to tell the truth about the Bible, are not trustworthy, to tell the truth about other important things either. 

None of us are innocent in all of this. It’s true that those who hold themselves out as teachers of the Bible are held to a higher level of trust and have more responsibility to make sure what they are saying is true and correct, Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly James 3:1 However, we are also responsible to know for ourselves what’s in the Bible. 

We cannot just sit back and have it spoonfed to us and expect to have no responsibility for the harm it might cause. At the very least we need to know the character of God well enough to know when an interpretation is unreliable. Doubt may have a negative connotation, but it can be useful as a tool in our journey to understand the Bible.

In the pages of the Bible, we will meet many doubters. The most familiar, of course, is Thomas. Doubting is what he is famous for. He wouldn’t believe that Jesus rose from the grave unless he saw the mark of the nails in His hand. When the other disciples told him they had seen Jesus, he replied, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” John 20:25 (NKJV) 

And now, until the end of time, anyone who is in doubt of anything is dubbed a “Doubting Thomas”.  But were his doubts unreasonable? You might be tempted to think they were because Jesus told the disciples many times of His death and resurrection. In fact, the Bible records 21 times in which He mentioned His resurrection to the disciples. And those are only the ones that made it into the book.

But the truth is that when Jesus told them about His death and resurrection, none of the disciples comprehended what He was telling them. There are many things in the gospels that attest to this, but we need to look no farther than the crucifixion itself. 

If the disciples had understood Jesus they would not have been so devastated by His death. They would have expected it and understood He was coming back in three days. But save for Jesus’ resurrection of Lazurus, a miracle they had not yet fully digested, resurrection was a concept too wild for their comprehension. They just couldn’t understand what He was telling them. 

We’ve heard of the resurrection a million times and fully comprehend the concept. But think about it seriously, what would be your response if your closest friends told you that someone you knew to be dead had just stopped by and they had lunch together? Maybe you think that if you had seen that person perform all the miracles Jesus did, your faith would be rock solid. Well, the doubt of the disciples tells a different story. Thomas got the spotlight but none of them was unshakable.  

It’s true that Jesus said to Thomas, “Thomas because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:26  We are not told who Jesus was referring to as those who “have not seen and yet believed.” Most of us probably think it was the other disciples.  But surely, He wasn’t referring to John and Peter. 

When Mary told those two the tomb was empty, wasn’t their response similar to Thomas’? In fact, didn’t the disciple that Jesus loved and Peter have a foot race to the tomb to see for themselves? So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. John 20:3-4

Doubts are a natural part of believing. Paul Tillich wrote, “Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” The Bible is full of God’s people who struggled with doubt. Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Elija. Even Jesus had doubts when He prayed in Gethsemane. He went a little farther, and falling on His face, He prayed, “O My Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39

Faith does not rely on observable facts, it goes beyond what we see. Faith operates inwardly but it is more than feelings, as well. Faith is a decision to believe in God even when we cannot see God at work in our lives. It’s a decision to trust Him even when it seems He is working against what we need in our lives. Faith is a decision to trust in God despite the doubts that argue against it. It is trusting in the light even in the midst of darkness. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

But faith is not all-or-nothing. Faith is like a muscle, it must be used or it will atrophy. Doubt is not the opposite of faith, it’s more like a training partner that strengthens it and keeps it on track. Faith can diminish doubt by reminding us how many times God has come through for us. In turn, doubts help to exercise our faith making it stronger. 

When we feel threatened by our doubts there is no reason to panic. Remember, we said doubts are a natural element of faith? It does not lead to an erosion of our faith as some fear. More often than not, I think, when our doubts bring us to panic, it is because we are fearful about what they say about the strength of our faith; so we ignore them. And they grow. 

Pretty soon, our old adversary, the enemy, takes advantage of our fear and exacerbates it to the level of panic. Our refusal to pray about our doubts gave him the ammunition to create our panic. And he is betting that our refusal to pray will continue to allow him free reign in his play-ground we call our mind.

That’s why the very first thing we must do when our doubts begin to multiply is the one thing we are most prone to overlook in our problem solving, we need to pray. 

We often forget to go to Him until literally, nothing else has worked. We’ve all heard someone say, perhaps even said ourselves, “there was nothing left to do but pray.”  Why do we so often relegate prayer to last resort behavior? Prayer should always be the first thing we do. But it is often the last thing we think of. No matter the circumstances, rule number one is to pray. Rule number two is to pray again.  

Having doubts is never a problem unless we make it one. It’s very common for people to believe that doubt leads to an erosion of our faith that eventually leads us away from the church altogether. I think that anyone who is led out of the church by doubts was looking for doubts to lead them out of the church. 

More often, we are afraid to admit that we have doubts, afraid to tell God about things we consider to be wrong, like our doubt. Of course, that’s crazy, for so many reasons, but mostly because we know God knows things about us we don’t even know about ourselves. Panic will only serve to get in the way of prayer. Eventually, not speaking to God will become a habit and our prayer life will die a silent death.

Instead of panicking, we need to just sit down and talk to God. Tell Him about our doubt and ask Him to help us get beyond it. We can tell him if we’re afraid or frustrated or plain old angry. He is there for just this kind of thing, it’s His job, let Him do it. 

Let’s Pray:

Lord, you know that we all have doubts about our faith at some time or another and you know it is a natural part of our faith. We live in a crazy world and we have so much information thrown at us in so many ways all day every day. It can be difficult to keep our focus on you, your kingdom, and your truth. But Lord, that is exactly what we are striving to do. We ask you Lord to help us not allow the doubts that come from the outside world or from our own imagination to distract us from your Kingdom. We thank you, Lord, that you always stay by our side and that we can always turn to you for help when our doubt begins to overwhelm us. But we also understand that we have to pray and ask you for help. And we can only do that if we are not afraid of having doubts. You, Lord, are the only real source of truth and comfort that we can trust. Help us to remember that in the midst of our panic, Lord. We are so grateful for your patience, Lord, and for your unconditional love. We are lost when we allow our fear of not being “good enough” to keep us from praying and talking to you. Please help us to remember that you love us no matter what. We know, Lord that our faith is a muscle we need to exercise to make it bigger and more resilient. So, we need to remember that doubts are a part of that process. Lord, when we are overwhelmed with doubts, help us to keep foremost in our minds that you will never turn your back on us no matter what we do. For your love is always unconditional. We thank you for that, Lord, and we thank you for all of the grace and blessings you give us every day. We submit to your will now and always, and we pray for it to be manifested on earth as it is in heaven. We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!

Points for Pondering and Prayer
Or
Perhaps for Putting Pen to Paper

These are some suggestions for self-exploration to  
ponder and perhaps pray and write about.

1. We all struggle with doubt from time to time. When you find yourself doubting what do you do to dispel your doubt? Write a paragraph about your go-to way to stop doubt.

2. Are your doubts random and different each time or is there something (or more than one thing) that
tends to be the theme of your doubts? 
A. If your doubts have a theme, write a paragraph about the theme and where you think 
it came from

3. Do you, or have you ever, been afraid of your doubts in the sense of what they say about the 
strength of your faith?
A. If you are afraid of your doubts, write a bit about where you think that fear came from,
Did someone teach you to be afraid?  Or did it grow out of your own understanding about
Faith?  Or is it something else?

4.  What are your thoughts about our personal responsibility to be sure about the meaning of
what is in the Bible?
A. Who do you rely on to help you to understand the Bible?
B. If it isn’t yourself, how do you know you can trust their interpretations?
Write a paragraph on these things.