By: Dale Weckbacher
Mark 11:22-24
And Jesus answered
them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say
to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the
sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says
will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore
I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have
received[a] it, and it will be
yours.
(ESV)
Many interpret Mark 11:22-24 to mean that doubt contrasts
with faith. While doubt does render our
faith ineffective, it does not mean we lack a belief in Jesus Christ when we
doubt but demonstrates a lack of trust Jesus can meet our need. Doubt is therefore not in opposition to our
foundational belief in Jesus as our savior but represents an obstacle to our
learning to trust in God to meet our needs.
We therefore all struggle with doubt and must learn how to overcome this
obstacle to live a life of total faith in God.
Jesus declared that John the Baptist was the greatest man to
be born of women (Luke 7:28). However,
John the Baptist, like all of us, struggled with doubt (Luke 7:18-20). I personally find great comfort in knowing
that someone as great as John the Baptist struggled with doubt as I do but also
must look at the passage in Luke 7:18-35 to determine how to deal with my
doubts. In this passage we see,
1)
John the Baptist was honest about his doubts
(Luke 7:18-19) – Our society, and even some in the body of Christ view doubt as
a weakness. Not wanting to be viewed as
weak, we may suppress any doubts we have so as to put on an image of
strength. However, doubt, as with any
other struggle we may encounter in life is never resolved until we acknowledge
its existence. (1)
2)
John the Baptist confronted his doubt (Luke7:20) – Granted John sent some of his disciples but this is most likely due to
him being imprisoned. However, he did
not let this prevent him from confronting his doubts. In addition, John the Baptist did not seek
out resolution for his doubts from others but went directly to Jesus.
3)
Jesus actions demonstrated John’s doubts were
unfounded (Luke 7:21-23) – Instead of condemning John the Baptist for his
doubts, Jesus performed miracles of healing, cast out evil spirits, and opened
the eyes of the blind as a demonstration of his power and authority. While we as believers today cannot physically
go to Jesus and directly witness him performing miracles, we do have the
accounts of his miracles as recorded in the Gospels. We can also find encouragement in the
testimony of people who have experienced the miraculous intervention of God in
their lives.
Jesus warns us that in this world we will have trouble (John16:33). However, this verse also reminds
us that in Jesus we can have peace and that Jesus has overcome the world as
demonstrated by the empty tomb. Dealing
with doubt therefore involves making Jesus the prime object of our faith for in
so doing we,
1)
Can honestly acknowledge our doubts to him
knowing He will not condemn us but give us his peace.
2)
Can honestly confront Jesus with our doubts
knowing that God’s Word records the miracle working overcoming power of our
God, dispelling all doubt.
One of my favorite Christian bands is Petra. One of their songs is Jekyll and Hyde. If you have never heard the song, I encourage
you to watch this video. (2) The song speaks of the struggle we all have
with the flesh, something the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 7:7-25. While we usually equate this with our fleshly
struggle with the temptation to sin, it also includes our fleshly struggle with
doubt in our lives.
I therefore encourage everyone reading this to deal with the
doubts that present obstacles to effective faith by acknowledging that these
doubts are part of our flesh, confronting God directly with these doubts
through prayer, and finding resolution to these doubts through God’s Word and
fellowship with other believers who have experienced God’s miracle working
power in their lives.
Next Saturday we will look at the product of our faith.
1. Habermas, Gary R. Dealing With Doubt. www.garyhabermas.com.
[Online] [Cited: May 13, 2017.]
http://www.garyhabermas.com/books/dealing_with_doubt/dealing_with_doubt.htm.
2. Petra. Jekyll
and Hyde. www.youtube.com. [Online] Youtube, October 22, 2009. [Cited:
May 13, 2017.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBQOCCGJ4U4.
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