The authors of
Job, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Jeremiah all express confusion, doubt, and
the pain of unbearable suffering endured by faithful believers. Even Jesus
questioned His Father’s will in the garden of Gethsemane as He wrestled with
accepting what He would have to suffer on the cross. And then, on the cross, He
cried out in agony, My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me? —
Craig
Groeschel
It’s tempting to think that many of us will
reach a point in our lives where we’ll be forced to question all that we
believe, and then after this struggle we’ll never doubt again.
The truth, however, is that all of us test
our beliefs every day.
Every time you make a decision about how to
respond to someone who is rude to you, your beliefs are front and center.
Every time you feel that ache in your body, a reminder of the emergency surgery you’re still paying for two years later, you wonder if you’ll recover, not just physically but financially as well.
When your car breaks down on the same day
that your spouse overdraws your checking account, you face a dilemma about how
you’ll respond — and more important, about what the basis for your response
will be.
When you’re reading a news app and scan the
“word bites” about impending military action against yet another aggressive
country, about the latest victim of a serial killer, or about the death toll in
a train accident, you’re forced to confront your own beliefs — about human
nature, about life, and about God.
The more I’ve lived life and the more I’ve
sought to know and understand God, the more I’m certain that doubts are
essential to our maturity as believers.
If we want a stronger faith, then we might
be wise to allow our doubts to stand as we work through them instead of trying
to chop them out of the way.
Judging from what I see in Scripture, I’m
convinced that God honors those seekers who sincerely look for the truth, just
like that boy’s father who wanted to believe so badly that he asked God to help
him overcome his unbelief (Mark
9:21–24).
Maybe you can relate. You are like so many
others who want to believe but feel like life has gotten in the way.
More than a third of the Psalms are prayers
or songs of people in pain. These inspired poems often articulate our pain for
us when we can’t find the words.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord,
for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?..
I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood
my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with
sorrow;
they
fail because of all my foes. — Psalm 6:2-3, Psalm 6:6-7
Can you relate to David’s pain?
He’s exhausted. Worn out. Depressed. And
alone.
He has cried so many tears, he can’t cry
any more.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe in God; he
absolutely does.
He is a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).
David simply can’t understand why the God
who has the power to change his circumstances, the one who elevated him from a
simple shepherd boy to the king of a nation, won’t do it.
The authors of Job, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes,
and Jeremiah all express confusion, doubt, and the pain of unbearable suffering
endured by faithful believers.
Even Jesus questioned His Father’s will in
the garden of Gethsemane as He wrestled with accepting what He would have to
suffer on the cross. And then, on the cross, He cried out in agony,
My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me? — Matthew 27:46
Maybe in some strange way, God allows us to
doubt Him sometimes. Maybe He knows that’s one of the ways for our faith to
grow stronger. One of the best ways.
I understand that’s a controversial
statement, and you may disagree. But what brought me to that place was my own
understanding of the Bible.
In addition to the passages of Scripture
I’ve just mentioned, there’s one more passage that gives us permission to
question God, if we’re willing to listen to Him in return.
More than 2,600 years ago, Habakkuk asked
many of the same questions people all over the world are still asking today.
And in His grace, God relieved some of
Habakkuk’s anguish, even as He left other questions unanswered.
But on the other side of his doubts,
Habakkuk grew into a person with a richer faith, a faith that may not have
developed as fully had he not struggled through his doubts.
Think about it. If you understood everything
completely and fully, you wouldn’t need faith, would you?
But without faith, it’s impossible to
please God (Hebrews
11:6).
Why? Because faith and trust must emerge
from love, not from a business relationship, a transaction, or some situation
in which we have no choice.
Are you willing to ask honest questions? To
wrestle?
And more important, are you willing to
listen for God’s answer?
Excerpted with permission from Hope in the
Dark by Craig Groeschel, copyright Craig Groeschel.
Your
Turn
If you’re in a swirl of doubt right now,
don’t let it guilt you. Just turn your questions to Jesus.
He doesn’t mind your lack of omniscience!
He wants your questions if you’re ready to listen. Are you?
Come share your thoughts with us on our blog. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily
Craig Groeschel
New
York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor
of Life.Church, a pacesetting multicampus church and creators of the popular
and free YouVersion Bible App. He is the author of several books, including
#Struggles, Fight, Altar Ego, Soul Detox, Weird, From This Day Forward, The
Christian Atheist and It. Craig, his wife, Amy, and their six children live in
Edmond, Oklahoma.
https://www.faithgateway.com/hoping-doubt-dark/#.YG35PDgzaJA
