How Do We Handle Doubts?

Last night at our monthly Praise and Prayer meeting, my friend Mike shared a challenge about the doubts that invade the lives of all Christians from time to time. He pointed out from Matthew 15 how the disciples doubted when Jesus told them to feed the 4000. The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” (v. 33).

This was after the disciples had already witnessed innumerable miracles from the hand of Christ, including of course, the Feeding of the 5000!

Mike pointed out that all Christians, even those who have followed Christ for a long time, enter seasons of doubt. He counseled that the only strategy to weather the storms of doubt is to stay close to Christ.

After he spoke we shared together about how Christians can handle doubt without falling into sin or prolonged seasons of spiritual paralysis. The suggestions were so good that I decided to summarize their wisdom.

• Stay close to Christ. Focus on Him and not yourself. (Mike)
• Ask others to pray for you when you’re struggling. When you’re weak in faith, let others trust the Lord for you. (Marissa)
• Learn to say to the Lord, as Jesus taught us, “Thy will be done.” We can trust His ways are best even when they’re what we would have chosen. (Howard)
• Remember how God has provided and taken care of you in the past. (Steve)
• Pray that God would help you discern the source of your doubt. (Dionne)
• Surround yourself with people who are walking with Christ, and don’t get your counsel from ungodly sources. (Brad, Parks)
• Stay in the word! The Bible is our only true foundation to show us how to live. (Steve)

How do you handle doubt?

You might also click on a few other titles about doubt? When We Doubt, Why We Have Doubts, and Do Your Doubts Make You a Loser? 

When We Doubt

What does Jesus think of us when we are full of doubt? I’ve written about doubt before (Do Your Doubts Make You a Loser?), but I had another insight from the life of John the Baptist.

John was an unusual man. More than anyone of his day, he knew the identity and mission of Jesus first-hand. He heard the Father’s endorsement at Jesus’ baptism (This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased) and saw the Spirit’s descent like a dove upon the Savior.

John’s purpose in life was to point to the Messiah. God had laid this call upon his life before he was born, with the visit of an angel to his aged father. John grew up knowing his mission was to call people to repent and to prepare themselves for the one true King.

He fulfilled his mission. He preaching and baptizing mission drew thousands of people from all over Palestine. Jesus’ first disciples had originally followed John, and it was John who introduced them: Behold, the Lamb of God… (John 1:29)

But for John, there was no storybook ending. Because he publicly condemned the adultery of Herod Antipas, he was thrown in prison and eventually beheaded. And in this last chapter of his life, he began to doubt. I don’t blame him. After proclaiming the rule of Messiah, he must have expected that Jesus would have wrested political power from the corrupt Herod dynasty and restored Palestine to the Jews. Instead John found himself in the dungeon, and things seemed worse, not better.

So he did what we should all do when doubt assails us. He brought his doubts to Christ. He sent two of his followers to Jesus, and they interrupted Jesus’ ministry to the crowds to ask this one question on behalf of John: Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? (Luke 7:20b)

Why We Have Doubts

Do you ever have have doubts about the Christian faith? Doubts concerning what you say you believe about Jesus? Honestly, I think most Christians have moments of doubt.

Doubt can be a refusal to believe, no matter what the evidence. I remember a Christian speaker once describing a long conversation he had with a skeptic. "If I answer all your questions, will you become a Christian?" "No," the doubter replied. "That would mean I would have to change." Doubt like that has hardened into sinful pride.

But I mean the kind of doubt that those of us who love, admire, and try to obey Jesus have from time to time. We’re used to thinking of “Doubting Thomas” (I wrote about him here), but he’s not the only follower of Jesus who doubted. I’ve been studying John the Baptist recently, and Luke records a very public expression of his doubt.

He sent two of his followers to ask Jesus: Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? (Luke 2:19). This was after a lifetime of knowing Jesus was the One; after baptizing Jesus and witnessing the Spirit's descent upon Him and the Father's endorsement of Him; after telling his own followers Jesus was the One!

I conclude that if John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest of men (Luke 7:28), struggled with doubt, any of us who love Jesus could, too. But why? What triggers doubt? I thought of four answers.