“And truly I say to you
why are you troubled and why do you doubt?” Luke 24:28.
Perhaps one of the
biggest deterrents of doing the will of God is doubt. The bible is filled with examples
of people who doubted the call of God in their lives, and hesitated because of
this doubt. There are many things that cause us to doubt. Let’s go to the bible
to look at some of the those causes.
We see doubt clearly
take hold of Moses in Exodus. When God tells Moses that he is to lead the
Israelites out of captivity, Moses begins to doubt that he is capable of doing
what God has called him to do. Moses doubts himself. He says, “Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11. Even
after God tells Moses that he will be with him, Moses still doubts his abilities
and God’s as well. Moses tells God that the Israelites will not believe him and
says that he is not a good enough speaker to do what God is calling him to do.
Another example of
doubt can be found in Genesis 18. When an angel tells Abraham that he and Sara
will have a son, Sara laughs in disbelief. She does not believe that God is
capable of giving her a child in her old age. The angel responds by saying, “Why
did Sara laugh... Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Genesis 18:13-14.
In Judges Gideon doubts
that God is speaking to him. When God tells Gideon that he will deliver the Israelites from the Midianites, he questions God about it twice. In Judges 6
Gideon asks God to perform a miracle to prove that it is really God speaking to
him. When God performs the miracle, Gideon still doubts that God is speaking to
him, and asks God to perform another miracle saying “Do not be angry with me.
Let me make just more request.”
If you struggle with
doubt, you are not alone. God helped all of the above characters to overcome their
doubt, so that they could live out his purpose for their lives. You can trust
that he will do the same for you. Remember that God is a patient God, and he
wants to show you that he can trust him. God is the God of the impossible and
miraculous. If God wants you to do something that seems impossible remember God
can do all things, even the impossible. If you struggle with self-doubt
remember that you don’t need to rely on your own capabilities. God will let his
strengths shine through your weaknesses by empowering you to do things that you
will only be able to do with him. If you struggle with any of the types of
doubt described above, self-doubt, doubt in God, or doubt in hearing God, I
encourage you to read over these bible studies. Prayerfully consider the stories.
Ask God to teach you about his faith and his power through these stories. Ask
God to reveal to you anything that may be causing you to doubt or any areas of
your life you may be struggling with doubt. Journal anything you learn through
studying these passages of scripture. For my next entry I will be delving
further into doubt, by outlining some of the ways you can combat the doubt in
your life.
