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.
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.
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?
~From Hope in the Dark: Believing God is Good When Life is Not by Craig Groeschel
Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!
