Faith Study (Part 3): Struggling with Doubt

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.