When the Doubt’s Deliberate

And immediately the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. – Mk 9:24.

Doubt in itself is not unbelief. But doubt can lead to unbelief. This is especially true of Volitional doubt.

This kind of doubt covers a range of different forms of uncertainty. It can be in the form of “weak faith” in believers who are too fearful to step out in obedience to God; conscious obscurantism by old Christians who would not bend their ‘theology’ even in the light of revelation of scripture; repeated, endless questioning by “seekers” who keep asking questions but never really getting to ‘commit’, etc.

The most extreme form of volitional doubt is seen in ‘intellectual’ atheists who have made up their minds from the outset not to believe. Their doubts are not because of a lack of evidence, but because of a personal resolve not to accept any evidence that may be thrown at them.

This was precisely the problem of the Pharisees and Jewish leaders at the time of Christ and the early church. Because they wilfully rejected every available evidence – both from fulfilled scriptures and manifest miraculous “signs” – they lost out of God’s eternal salvation plan (Rom 9 and 10).

Every Believer goes through doubt at one time or the other; sometimes it’s factual, other times it’s emotional. But when we begin to nurture doubt for doubt sake, for example through an unrealistic attitude to faith (expecting to be absolutely certain of EVERYTHING), or through spiritual immaturity (refusing to grow), then our doubts can unconsciously become a route to unbelief. And since faith is our lifeblood connection to God (Heb 11:6), once unbelief sets in, we gradually become spiritually dried up and prone to more attacks of the Devil. Don’t give him that opportunity.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

When Emotions Get in the Way

Emotional Doubt is the most painful of the three types of doubt; and probably the hardest to deal with. Emotional doubt usually arises from some form of deep personal loss or pain suffered. The pain thresholds of believers vary; and what may be seen as nothing but the actualities of life in one person may actually crush another beyond comfort.

This is when doubt sets in. They begin to have uncertainties about God’s love for them, may become sceptical of preaching, or even become irritable around brethren.

A classic example of this is seen in sisters Martha and Mary on the occasion of the death of their brother, Lazarus, (John 11).

These consummate friends of Jesus quickly became melancholic and moody around the very Lord Himself because they felt He didn’t come through for them at a very critical juncture in the life of their brother.

The problem of emotional doubt is a problem of perspective. The Bible never asks us to supress our human impulses by pretending not to feel loss. Ecc 3:4 tells us that there is a time to weep and mourn; and Paul enjoins us to “weep with them that weep,” (Rom 12:15). Indeed, even our Lord wept with Mary and Martha at the death of their brother and his friend, (Jn 11:35).

Nevertheless, pain can make us myopic, focussing only on the short-term loss and making us lose sight of eternal perspectives. Unlike Factual doubt which arises objectively from the head, Emotional doubt arises from the heart and is usually subjective. Thus the solution to emotional doubt is a conscious change of perspective. As a Nigerian adage goes, “even in our crying, we do not allow our tears to obscure our vision.” The Psalms is filled with instances where the psalmists address their emotions directly to keep them in check. (Ps 37:7-8; 42:5-6,11; 45:4-8; 16-17; 56:3-4; 94:19, etc.). The last thing we want is for the Evil one to take advantage of our loss and sow seeds that will cause us more damage in the future – emotionally, physically and spiritually. 

Accept the comfort of the Lord today. Say to yourself, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disturbed within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” – Ps 42:11.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Types of Doubt

“How can these things be?” – Nicodemus, Pharisee (John 3:9)

Not all doubts are the same.

Dr. Gary Habermas, noted New Testament Scholar and Religion Philosopher, believes doubt should be categorised into three distinct areas: Factual doubt, Emotional doubt, and Volitional Doubts.

Probably the most common is Factual doubt. It arises from a lack of information.

It’s seen in the virgin Mary questioning the Angel Gabriel about the possibility of her conceiving without a man, and in Nicodemus quizzing Jesus about the possibility of being born again in one’s old age, (Lk 1:34; John 3:4). As is evident from the cited examples, the solution to factual doubt is Explanation: biblical explanation.

It’s reported that someone once asked St. Augustine what God was doing before He created Heaven. In anger, the famed Church Father replied, “He was creating Hell for people who ask such type of questions!” This attacking style need not be the way we respond to factual doubt. What the doubter needs is simply more information; biblically correct information that is.

Many Believers reach a stage in their spiritual walk where they begin to doubt certain things. Like the inerrancy of scripture, the certainty of salvation, the reality of Heaven, etc. If you’re going through any of these, realise it’s because you’re growing faster than your Word level. Like a healthy growing infant, mama’s milk – nutritious as ever – is no long adequate to sustain you.  Get a good study Bible, listen to some doctrinal teachings; ask questions from reliable pastors and teachers… in other words, get more information.

Nicodemus may have sounded like the typical sceptical Pharisee when he queried the Lord about being “born again”; but it’s evident our Lord’s exhaustive response had a lasting impact on his life. At a time when all of Jesus’ disciples deserted him, it was our dear doubting Nicodemus that came forward with spices to bury the Lord with (John 19:39). Halleluiah!

Is your doubt factual? Go to the Word with sincerity and humility today; your answer awaits there.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Welcome To The (Doubters) Club

“How long will you forget me, O LORD? Forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” – David the anointed (Ps 13:1)

A reason many Believers find it hard to cope with doubt and think that it’s unique to them is because they have gilded images of Bible characters in their minds. Even after they’ve left children Sunday school class with its picture stories of shepherd David, Brave Moses, faithful Abraham, etc. they continue this selective, cherry-picking method of Bible study that seems to cast Bible characters as stoic, faithful and perfect.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our “fathers of faith were real men like you and I and went through the same struggles some of us are afraid to admit today.

Take the prophet Jeremiah, for example. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament and wrote more prophecies than any other (the book of Jeremiah is considerably longer than Isaiah). He wasn’t just a prophet, he was also a priest, called and anointed before he was even born.

Jer 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations.”

We often quote this verse and even appropriate it to ourselves. We claim that we, too, are anointed of God and are set over nations and over kingdoms to root out, pull down, destroy, etc. (Jer 1:10).

Yet we wilfully ignore the actual aftermath of that prophecy. Jeremiah may have been a prophet to nations but he was no Elijah who could call down fire on his enemies or Elisha who was courted by kings. Jeremiah was slapped, thrown into wells, exiled, and basically humiliated throughout his prophetic ministry.

This is why we shouldn’t be shocked when we hear this great prophet say directly to God, “O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived… I am in derision daily, everyone mocks me…” (Jer 20:7-18).

Abraham, our designated “Father of Faith”, tired of waiting long after being promised great blessings by God told Him directly “What will you give me, seeing I go childless?” (Gen 15:2).

We could go on and on to talk about Moses, David, John the Baptist, etc. Nevertheless, at no time did God rebuke any of them. Indeed, some of them went from these periods of doubt to achieve great feats of faith.

Beloved, doubt is neither strange nor a sin in the life of a believer, it’s what we do with it, however, that determines if we would come out better and stronger or wilt and shrivel into oblivion.

AMEN.

GREG ELKAN

When Believers Doubt

But these are written, that you might believe. – John 20:31

It may sounds strange, even oxymoronic to even try to talk about Believers who doubt. How can we say that they doubt when they’re supposed to be Believe-ers?

But the real fact of life is, every Believer goes, has gone, or will eventually go through seasons of doubt. Any sufficiently old Believer who claims they have never doubted for one second, either isn’t growing in the faith or is deliberately downplaying it.

To “DOUBT” is to “to suspect that somebody is not sincere or trustworthy, or that something is not true, likely, or genuine”. In our context, “Doubt” is any form of uncertainty regarding the nature and person of God, and/or His Word (i.e. the Bible) and also the nature of our relationship with Him”.

Perhaps one of the reasons Believers fear to acknowledge their doubts is because they equate doubt with sin. Doubt does not automatically come from a sinful, rebellious heart but can be the product of insufficient, limited or even contradicting information.

When the resurrected Christ appeared to Thomas, (the “Patron Saint” of all doubters), He didn’t say, “I forgive you for doubting”. No! Instead Jesus gave Thomas additional information to help his faith.

While there’re clear blessings and advantages attached to those who believed without seeing Christ’s scars, Jesus still made an effort to reach out to Thomas at Thomas’ faith level.

Are you going through doubt due to some theological, ideological, or emotional issues? Be comforted and do not allow the Devil exploit that to his own end; God still loves you and is willing to reach you at whatever level of faith you’re currently at.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN