DOUBT AMONG THE FAITHFUL

The human emotion of doubt does indeed arise within many of the faithful. We see it early in the gospels in Mark 9:24: “… Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.”

The word itself seems to be defined as lacking confidence. It was revealed in Genesis 3 when Satan successfully tempted Eve by bringing doubt toward the command of God by saying “… did God say…?” 

We must not rest blame for doubt solely upon the evil one who is allowed to work among us. In Luke 1, we are given the doubt found in the heart of Zechariah to consider when he was told by the angel of a son to come and his doubt brought him to be mute until his son, John, arrived as promised. Certainly a similar time of extended doubt was present as Abraham and Sarah seemed to doubt the son of promise arriving and tried to help or nudge God using Hagar.

Anytime we allow human reason to overshadow faith in God, sinful doubt becomes evident.

There are those among us who use the presence of doubt in the faithful as evidence by saying that if doubt has ever appeared in the heart then perhaps one who experienced it is not truly saved. We must strongly refute such statements by reminding those who say such things that scripture reveals that doubt appeared even among those personally saved by Jesus Himself.

Jeremiah 18:12 forewarned us about the stubbornness of evil hearts which we must not forget as we walk with the Lord after salvation. Remember the lesson of the garden when doubt arises.

In Luke 22:29-30, Jesus teaches His disciples that to become the greatest means to serve, a direct lesson in humility for His own. He assured these chosen ones of their ultimate reward in the kingdom in these verses:

“And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel…”.

Later as Jesus communes with the Father in His great prayer found in John 17, He confirms His keeping of these he has chosen:

“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that scripture might be fulfilled.”

None were lost except Judas, by design, and all of the rest were shown by the words of Jesus to be saved.

After His cross and resurrection, the angel told the women at the empty tomb that He is risen as he said. Further instruction told those who were His to go to Galilee and there they would see Him.

Matthew 28:16-17:

“Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.”

Holy scripture by itself refutes those among the faithful who use doubt to question salvation in others. Some of those who were appointed to sit on thrones in eternity and were clearly noted by Jesus to not be lost, found doubt as they approached the risen Lord. These verses in Matthew are given us to know that once saved, not even momentary doubt is strong enough to pluck us from His hand.

The doctrine of grace may bring moments of doubt as it is difficult to fully accept by those who still wish to earn salvation which by definition cannot be earned as it is the singular gift of God through faith given to each depraved sinner and there are no works strong enough to earn it. (Ephesians 2:8-9)   

Thanks be to God for His plan for our redemption, put in place at the beginning of all things. (Revelation 13:8)

Besetting sin may also bring doubt to those saved. When it reasserts itself and threatens to overcome us, we may doubt we were ever saved. Paul himself wrestled with the flesh and was quick to reveal his struggle. The writer of Hebrews instructs us to “… lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us…”. (Hebrews 12:1)

The gift given to each of us at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit which indwells us until mortal death, never leaves us or forsakes us. (Hebrews 13:5)

We walk by faith, not by sight or feeling or human mood. (2nd Corinthians 5:7)

Our blessed assurance is the evidence needed to overcome momentary doubt along our faith journey. That strength given us allows us to accept that evidence because we are “… dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:11)

Doubt is sinful but present in the faithful and as we have seen, was among some of the originally chosen ones. When it rises in our spirits, we must take advice and confidence from David who understood repentance and taught us the cure for even the greatest sin is before us if we bring to the Lord “… a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart…”. (Psalm 51:17)

When we do so, we become more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37)