Sailing Through Waves of Doubt.

The Western church, by and large, has failed its congregations in properly addressing doubt within the minds and hearts of many of their congregation members. Today, there seems to be an ever-increasing population of both students and adults who have doubts concerning their faith, concerning the authenticity of the Scriptures, and concerning the truth of the Gospel itself. However, when attempting to address such concerns and doubts, they are met by a plethora of false-assurances and half-hopes that drug the uneasy spirit in the Christian.

The Promises of God…

I recently read through John 10 where Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” This statement is, for the Christian, to be both a provision of great comfort and a sure promise being given by Christ Jesus himself. Here, as it is written, Christ proclaims that he has given his people, his Church, life eternal. He has given his people the power necessary to escape this destructive age that is riddled by sin and death – providing the means of escape into the eternal age. There, in that day, death itself will be destroyed and not even sliver of sinful thought or desire shall be left within the hearts of Christians to drive us away from our God in doubt or distrust. Nothing evil shall remain – we shall forever be free from the claws of sin.

Now, as you listen to the words of Christ, take care to never doubt such a promise of God! Far be it from us lowly creatures, formed from the dust, to speak back to God in a doubtful voice to question such a divine promise! As Charles Spurgeon wrote on the matter, “Christian, it is contrary to every promise of God’s precious Word that you should ever be forgotten.” The doubt, here, is questioning if God has forgotten his people. And in our Western context, many such questions continue to arise. Today, the Church looks left and right and sees the continual degrading of the culture. A giving-over into sexual immorality, a decline in personal holiness, an increase of broken marriages, and that’s not even including the recent shootings that took so many innocent lives.

The Doubt of Christians…

The Christian must consider the great gravity of consequences should they begin to doubt that which God has revealed by his word. Is there room for doubt in the Christian’s heart? Is it sinful to doubt? The Christian must examine the Scriptures for such an answer. In every case of doubt or wavering faith, the Lord calls the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, and his people to believe. As one preacher put it, “Faith is not merely believing in God, it is believing God and all of his promises.” Even James, the half-brother of our Lord, wrote in his letter that believers who waver in faith should ask of God without doubting him – or they should expect nothing from God. As it is written, “Let him ask without doubting…. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6-8 CSB)

When the temptation to doubt the living God arises in the human heart, many often excuse such things because the excuse-lined doubt feels like that of a warm blanket that brings comfort a child on a cold-winter day. However, such excuses that many give saying, “Doubt is natural…” or, “You’re not the only one with doubts…” actually drives the fainting soul not into the shelter of the Most High (Psalm 91), but back into the winter storm where the they are again children, “…tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.” (Ephesians 4:14 CSB)

Therefore, is it sin that the Christian should doubt the promises of God in Christ Jesus? Yes! Sinful indeed, sinful beyond measure! Such doubt grieves the Holy Spirit of God who has been placed as seal inside the believer, a promise, a guarantee, for the day of restoration. Consider all the promises of God should the Lord of Heaven fail to keep even a single promise he has made. It would make God to be a liar – and may it never be so! For the Lord God has sworn by his own name, put his own glory on the line – he shall never fail to keep any of his promises that he has promised to his Church in the Scriptures. 

So, then, what is the Christian to do when the waves of doubt assail the ship of faith?

You are to retreat into the belly of the Ark – hide yourself in Christ! Take pains to remind yourself of the faithfulness of God to all generations. Remember that God is never slow to fulfill all his promises, how he has never failed his people, and that all who the Father gives to the Son, the Son shall never lose, for Christ and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

All is more easily said than done – how can the Christian do such a thing?

 1. Return to the Word.

The Scriptures are breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God, and is “profitable, for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” The Scriptures reveal who God is, they are a soothing aid to the troubled soul and able to build you up by the power of God through the working of the Holy Spirit.

 2. Remind yourself of the promises of God.

Recall, think on, and meditate on the promises that God has given to his people. As it is written, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him [Christ] that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Cor. 1:20-22)

3. Repeat the Gospel to yourself.

The Gospel is not only for those who need to be saved – it is also for the Christian who has been saved. Reminding ourselves that, at the right time, the Lord Jesus Christ died for us to save us from the wrath of God and bring us into a saving relationship God. Repeating the Gospel to ourselves daily reminds us that God does love us (1 John 3:1-3), and that shall never fail to redeem those whom he has purchased by the blood of Christ (Romans 8:28-30)