I recently returned from a project in a country that is hostile to Christianity. It was a couple of weeks working with believers who are in underground churches. In 10 days of meetings we covered a lot of ground. Some of it was hard.
Some of it the people living in the land did not want to accept. It was just too hard in their eyes. In light of the realities in which they live, they just could not see how it could work.
Doubt.
Doubt is OK.
We are not the first to trust in Christ who have had to deal with this. Look at Matthew 28:18 – 20. You know this passage, it is the Great Commission. But notice the verses just prior, 28:16 – 17. These men had been with Jesus for 3 years. They had seen his miracles. They watched Him walk on water, calm the storm on the sea, they were with Him when He fed thousands of people with essentially nothing. They had seen demons fall to His feet and obey His commands. They watched as Lazarus walked out of a tomb taking off his grave clothes after four days of death. Some of them were present when He was transformed into His glory.
They saw all of this.
Look at how they responded when they saw His resurrected body… Some doubted.
Those who had been with Him for three years – doubted. So is it any wonder that we who have not seen all of those miracles, have not seen the resurrected Lord – doubt? Probably not.
What is the solution, what is it that removes our doubt. Stay tuned…
Some of it the people living in the land did not want to accept. It was just too hard in their eyes. In light of the realities in which they live, they just could not see how it could work.Doubt.
Doubt is OK.
We are not the first to trust in Christ who have had to deal with this. Look at Matthew 28:18 – 20. You know this passage, it is the Great Commission. But notice the verses just prior, 28:16 – 17. These men had been with Jesus for 3 years. They had seen his miracles. They watched Him walk on water, calm the storm on the sea, they were with Him when He fed thousands of people with essentially nothing. They had seen demons fall to His feet and obey His commands. They watched as Lazarus walked out of a tomb taking off his grave clothes after four days of death. Some of them were present when He was transformed into His glory.
They saw all of this.
Look at how they responded when they saw His resurrected body… Some doubted.
Those who had been with Him for three years – doubted. So is it any wonder that we who have not seen all of those miracles, have not seen the resurrected Lord – doubt? Probably not.
What is the solution, what is it that removes our doubt. Stay tuned…
A terrific subject for me right now! Really, always has been; now it's just more obvious in my life.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction (obviously fleshly) is, no! Of course I believe the Bible, and since it is God's word, God Himself.
Ask someone who knows me at all - they (if honest) have a different opinion. And so do I; I know myself better than anyone does. And I often don't like what I see.
Even more so, the Holy Spirit who is constantly nosing around my life knows the REAL truth - I am "naked and open before the One with whom (I) have to do...." (Hebrews 4:13) If it were not for the blood washed robe of Christ's righteousness that He has clothed me with, I would be condemned and eternally lost!
My deception is, I DO believe - in my head. I can quote the verses, turn to the passages, articulate the powerful presence of God with me, etc., etc., etc.
But, when I look at my life, it screams back, "unbelief!" My actions betray the façade of belief I carefully repair over my life . If God is really with me, why do I fear the future? Where does the anxiety that wakes me up in morning after morning come from? Why do I struggle with rejoicing in all that things that God brings into my life (He really IS sovereign, after all).
I am way too like His early disciples in Luke 6 whom He asked, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (v.46)
That, Jesus said, is like building your life on shifting, unstable sand in a hurricane.
I am thankful for the gracious (and painful) work of the searching Holy Spirit Who is hard at work showing me my unbelief - so that I may confess seemingly ever-present disobedience, rest in His forgiveness, and work toward more active (true) belief.
God is not surprised, He has known it all along, and continues to lead me forward with Him.