OVERCOME DOUBT BY GOD’S WORD

“...Why are you troubled? And who do DOUBTS arise in your hearts?” – Luke 24:38b

Our Lord Jesus Christ exemplified what it means to OVERCOME DOUBT by GOD’S WORD: “And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do DOUBTS arise in your hearts? (Lk.24:38). Doubts in the heart bring troubles to life! Here, the Risen Christ rebuked DOUBT in the hearts of His disciples. Faith and Doubt are both matters of the heart: “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and DOES NOT DOUBT in his HEART, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mk. 11: 23). To doubt is to lack confidence, to consider unlikely. The Latin root of ‘doubt’ is dubitare – “to hesitate, waver.”

Doubt is an experience common to most people. Even those with faith in God sometimes struggle with doubt and say, “Lord I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk.9:24). Yet, doubt can destroy lives. When we ask God for wisdom, we are to ask in faith, without doubt. If we doubt God’s ability to respond to our request, what’s the point of asking in the first place? To doubt while we ask is to not receive anything from Him, because we are unstable. Doubting is wavering: “He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (Jam.1:5-8).

The very first expression of doubt in the Bible is in Genesis 3, when Satan tempted Eve. God had given a clear command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, specifying the consequence of disobedience. Satan introduced doubt into Eve’s mind when he asked, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” He eroded her confidence in God’s command. When she affirmed the command, including the penalties, Satan replied with a denial, a stronger statement of doubt: “You will not surely die.” Doubt is a tool of Satan to make us lack confidence in God’s Word. Yet, we cannot lay all the blame on Satan. We are clearly accountable for our own doubts.

When Zechariah was visited by God’s angel and told that he would have a son, he doubted the word (Lk.1: 11-17). He logically assumed that he and his wife were too old to have children. In response, the angel said he would be mute until the day God’s promise was fulfilled (Lk.1: 18-20). Allowing human reason to overshadow faith in God always results in sinful doubt. No matter how logical our reasons may seem, God has made foolish the wisdom of the world (1Cor.1:20). His seemingly foolish plans are far wiser than man’s. Faith is trusting God even when His plans contradict reason or experience. The remedy for doubt is faith, which comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom.10:17).

The Bible is a testimony of God’s works in the past, so we will have reasons to trust Him in the present (Psa.77:11). Once we understand what God has done in the past, what He has promised for the present, and what we can expect from Him in the future, we can act in faith instead of doubt. The most famous doubter in the Bible, Thomas, was unwilling to believe that the Lord was resurrected unless by sight and touch (Jh.20: 25-29). When he later saw Jesus and believed, he received a gentle rebuke, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We can have confidence even in the things we cannot see, because God has proven Himself faithful, true, and able: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1).

Doubts often start small. Is there any point in praying? Yet one question quickly leads to another. Does God hear? Does God care? And finally, Is God even there? Like weeds, they grow when unattended. We must confront doubts by God’s Word if they are not to control us: “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (v.45). We confront and DEFEAT DOUBT by God’s Word