Another Year of Choices
By Barbara Dahlgren
Can one be a Christian and have doubts?
Exactly what are doubts? One definition is “feelings of uncertainty.” Most Christians have feelings of uncertainty from time to time – especially when facing trials. God doesn’t always give us what we want when we want it, so we might doubt His love for us. Doubt itself is not a sin. Actually, it’s better to face our doubts than pretend they don’t exist.
That’s what David did. He talked his doubts over with God and he was fairly bold in letting God know how he felt. Just read the Psalms. “How long will you forget me, O Lord? How long will you hide yourself from me?” (Psalm 13:1-3) “Why do you stand so far off, O Lord?” (Psalm10:1) “Why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) This was David’s way of asking God to help his doubt. And God always did. We can tell because of the conclusions David reached. All those Psalms end with David acknowledging God’s greatness and trusting His mercy, judgment, salvation, goodness, and love.
Just because we doubt doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us. God loved David. He even said that David was “a man after mine own heart.” (Acts 13:22)
What about John the Baptist? He had testified that Jesus was the Son of God. (John 1:29, 34) Yet when Herod threw Him in prison he must have had a little element of doubt. He sent messengers to Jesus to ask, “Are you really the one who was to come, or do we need to look for someone else?” (Matthew 11:2-3) Jesus was not upset by the question. He didn’t chastise John. He told the messengers to go and reassure John. (Matthew 11:4-6) Then Jesus told the crowds there had never been another man born of women greater than John the Baptist. (Matthew 11:11) That’s pretty high praise for one who had a little doubt.
Peter had not expected Jesus to be arrested so he had some doubts. Why else would he have denied Christ three times? (Luke 22:54-61) And after Christ’s crucifixion all the disciples were disheartened and had a few doubts. They didn’t fully understand God’s plan yet. When the women reported Christ’s resurrection the men thought they were “telling idle tales.” (Luke 24:11) Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself.
Then a little later Christ appeared to the disciples. However Thomas wasn’t with them so he had some doubts. He said he wouldn’t believe it until he personally saw the print of the nails in Christ’s hands and touched His scars. (John 20:24-29) Eight days later Jesus came to Thomas and let him touch His scars. This was not a rebuke. It was Jesus helping Thomas on his spiritual journey. Thomas humbly responded with, “My Lord and my God.”
Jesus didn’t say, “You bad, bad disciples! How dare you doubt?” He was patient and loving towards them. And He is patient and loving towards us.
When Christ appeared to the eleven disciples before His final commission, we are told they worshipped Him… but some doubted. (Matthew 18:16-17) Christ had already appeared to them a couple of times so why doubt? Aren’t we kind of like that? God does so many wonderful things for us but sometimes we still kind of doubt when He doesn’t respond the way we think He should.
Now here’s what I find interesting. This scripture indicates they all worshipped Him even though a few doubted. The Greek word here for doubt is “distazo” which means to hesitate, think two different ways at the same time. Maybe the doubters thought, “WOW! There He is. But wait. He was crucified and died. How can this be? But it is!” However, no matter what they thought, they worshipped Him.
Some say doubt is the opposite of faith. I’m not so sure. After all, courageous people have fear; they feel fear but do what is right anyway. I think faithful people can also have doubts. However, their actions are based on their faith or what they believe, not their doubts. Our Christian faith must be deeper than our doubts. All those disciples worshipped Jesus in spite of any wavering some may have felt.
Consider this… Our doubts do not alter the existence of God. God isn’t like Tinkerbelle who relies on us to chant, “I do believe, I do believe, I do believe” for Him to spring to life. God exists whether we believe it or not. Jesus loves us whether we believe it or not.
Doubts arise from feelings of uncertainty, things we can’t be sure of. Well, we can be sure of God. Instead of focusing on what we don’t know, perhaps we need to focus on what we do know. We know God loves us. We know He only wants the best for us. We know His ways are not our ways, but His ways are better. We know He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. We know Jesus lived and died and lives again. We know we are forgiven. We know we have salvation. This list goes on and on. If we keep our eyes focused on these certainties, we won’t have a lot of time left to doubt.
Suggestions for practicing this choice…
- Faith is a choice so feed your faith. We all have a mixture of doubt and faith in us. Which one will live? As the old Cherokee legend says, “The one you feed.”
- Praise, worship, and thank God regardless of circumstances. Don’t wait until you feel like it. Feelings are misleading. Feed your faith!
- Read the Bible daily to feed your faith.
- Pray daily to feed your faith.
- Keep your eyes focused on Jesus to feed your faith. (Hebrews 12:2) Remember the example of Peter walking on the water. He started to falter when he took his eyes off Jesus. (Matthew 14:29-31)
