“The Benefit of Doubt” by Mark McGee
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said …”
It often begins with doubt. Did God say? Is God right? Is God wrong? Is the Bible God’s Word? Can I really trust God? Does God care about me? Does God even exist?
Eve, the “mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20), was Satan’s first target and his attack was to cause Eve to doubt and disobey God. Satan uses that same tactic today. Many Christians have doubts about their Christian faith. The doubt can become so serious that some Christians even begin to wonder if God exists. Many Christians have walked away from their belief in God because of doubt.
If you find yourself in a season of doubt about your faith in Christ, in God’s Word or even in God’s existence, I have some good news for you. There is a powerful benefit to doubt.
Doubt leads many Christians to depression, despair or defeat in their spiritual lives. I’ve experienced doubt in my Christian life and believe most Christians have had some experience of doubting God. If that’s true, how can there be any benefit to doubt?
Doubt can lead to despair, but it can also lead to discovery!
The Greek words translated “doubt” in the New Testament have the idea of “shifting between positions, wavering, uncertainty, to be thoroughly perplexed to the point of despair.” That’s where many of us may be now in our relationship to God and His Word.
Doubt can be debilitating, meaning it can stop us in our tracks and even run us off the tracks.
We’ve all seen it. A child raised in a Christian home and church who goes off to college and announces to parents that he or she no longer believes in God. An adult who prays passionately for something but doesn’t see God answering their prayers. A Christian who is deeply hurt by other Christians, so hurt that they denounce Christianity and choose a secular lifestyle. How does that happen?
In just about every situation I’m familiar with, it started with doubt about God or the Bible.
That’s where discovery comes into play. Thankfully, many Christians are challenged to use their doubt to push them toward discovery.
Discovery is the process that led me from atheism to theism and Christianity.
Doubt in the Bible
Many, and I mean many, well-known people in the Bible went through periods of serious doubt. Many heard God’s voice or saw evidence of the supernatural, but still doubted. Here’s a short list to show that we’re in good company:
• Abraham
• Isaac
• Moses
• Children of Israel
• Army of Israel
• Gideon
• David
• Elijah
• Habakkuk
• Jeremiah
• Zechariah
• John the Baptist
• Jesus’ Disciples
I don’t know about you, but I feel a little better about doubting knowing that many of the people God loved and used powerfully in the Bible went through seasons of doubt. Some of them are even mentioned in Hebrews 11 as being faithful to God.
How can God speak of doubters as faithful? Because God understands that His children are human and have doubts. God knows that we are flesh (Psalm 78:39) and weak (Mark 14:38). I appreciate the fact that God is loving, understanding and compassionate. He knows our hearts and minds and works with us to strengthen both when we doubt.
How does God do that? By guiding us to discover that He is faithful.
Discovery in the Bible
Let’s look at one example of how doubt led to discovery for one of Israel’s leaders. Keep in mind that this person was just like you and me – called by God but doubted because of something we all have – human weakness.
Gideon was one of the faithful people mentioned in Hebrews 11, but here’s how he responded to the Angel of the Lord who called Gideon to lead the Israelites into battle against God’s enemies. Israel had spent years disobeying God and because of that were in dire straits because of the continual opposition of the Midianites and Amalekites.
“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” Judges 6:12-13
How did the Lord respond to Gideon’s expression of doubt?
“Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” Judges 6:14
The Lord told Gideon to trust Him and discover the power of God by winning a victory against the enemy armies. However, if you think that strong statement from the Lord caused Gideon to jump up and run into battle, think again.
“So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Judges 6:15
Gideon saw the Lord and heard His voice, but Gideon could only see his weakness in the flesh – “my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
Have you ever thought that way? God’s leading is clear to you, but you doubt God can do what He promised because of the weakness of your flesh? We’ve all been there.
Gideon continued to question the Lord and asked for a sign. Ever done that – asked God for a sign? Well, Gideon did –
“Then he said to Him, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.” Judges 6:17-18
In fact, Gideon asked for another sign later – the sign of the fleece (Judges 6:36-40).
Gideon was a doubter and tested God. How did God respond? With love, compassion, and direction to discover that God is faithful. God called Gideon to do great things and gave him great power to discover that God would do all that He had called him to do.
Gideon did tear down the altar of Baal and with a small army of 300 men put the enemies of Israel to flight. Gideon eventually defeated God’s enemies and is remembered as one of the great leaders of Israel (Judges 7 & 8) even though he began his leadership career as a doubter.
Gideon doubted and tested God, then trusted God as he discovered the Lord’s faithfulness and went on to defeat the enemies of God.
The same was true of so many of the people in the Bible who doubted God because of their own weakness. They doubted God and tested Him, which led to the discovery that God is real and alive and involved with every aspect of their lives.
That’s how it can be for you and me. Do we doubt? Yes. Do we test God? Yes. Can we discover the truth that God is faithful and will do what He says He will do? Absolutely!
So, what should we do when we doubt God? Walk away in despair and defeat? Or discover God’s faithfulness and defeat the enemies of our Lord. The choice is ours to make. Our prayer is that we all choose rightly – to the glory of God.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.” Hebrews 11:1-2
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
~ Written by Mark McGee ~
Mark McGee is a career journalist and former atheist. He worked on the news staff of several radio and television stations (including Huntsville’s WAAY-TV from 1984-1996) and two large metropolitan newspapers. Mark was a reporter, correspondent, anchor, managing editor, executive producer, and news director during a four-decade career in news. Since retiring in 2009, Mark has worked as a communications director and consultant.
Mark has written three published books and more than 250 Ebooks. He also writes regularly for several Christian blogs. Mark serves with Ratio Christi Campus Apologetics Alliance and works with students at the University of Alabama Huntsville.
Mark has been active in martial arts and self-defense training for almost 60 years and has been teaching from a Christian perspective for almost 50. He offers free self-defense clinics to businesses, schools and churches in the Huntsville area and is an instructor with Christian Soldiers Karate at Whitesburg Baptist Church.
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