by Jacob Ninan
Why some people don't believe
"The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, 'When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation wants a sign; and so a sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.' And He left them and went away" (Matt.16:1-4). How is it that we predict the weather? We look for signs in the sky, the clouds, the wind, the temperature, etc., and conclude how the weather is going to be. Jesus was saying that the people were not willing to use the same sort of approach when it came to believing in Him. They were not considering properly the miracles He had done, how He had been living without sin and what He taught because if they had done so, they would have had enough evidence to know who He was.They wanted a miracle on demand or whenever they wanted. When Jesus was hanging on the cross they said they would believe in Him if He came down from the cross. But when He rose from the dead, that was not enough for them!
What we need is not proof or evidence, because they are available in plenty. Those who have sincerely tried to investigate the claims of Jesus have finally come to conclude that He was indeed who He claimed to be. Think of the proof there is about how He came back from the dead and was seen by many, how even His enemies could not find anything wrong with Him, the number of miracles He did, the miracles He is doing now, and the number of lives that are being transformed by faith in Him.
What people need is a willingness to accept the truth and then act on it. People refuse to believe not because there is no proof but because they don't want to give up some sin in their life, they don't want to admit they were wrong, they don't want to admit they are sinners, they think it is more important to consider what their family or society say, they can't trust God because they have a wrong opinion about Him, etc.
"For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;" (1Cor.1:22). Even now, some look for personal experiences to get convinced, and some others want philosophical, logical or scientific explanations. Special experiences are not frequent and we cannot get them on demand. Looking for explanations is always going to lead to many unanswered questions because our human knowledge is very limited.
Why Christians doubt?
Why is it that those who have been born again and experienced a touch from God still doubt? Four very common reasons are that some prayers have not been answered, we cannot understand God during some painful situations, we cannot always feel the presence of God, and we cannot experience some things that we have once experienced. This is where the simple truth about a practical Christian life comes out that we can only live this life through faith, and not through special experiences or feelings (2Cor.5:7). What is this faith? This is our faith in God as a Person we have come to know and trust.Who is this God we believe in?
This the God who loved us so much that in order to save us from damnation, He sent His Son to bear our punishment and die in our place (Jn.3:16). For those who recognise themselves as sinners who deserve punishment, this is the greatest news. Our respect and admiration for God rises up when we realise that this is a free gift from God and not at all what we deserve! Then God tells us that He has loved us with a love that cannot end and that it is why He has made this way of drawing us to Him (Jer.31:3). He assures us that all His plans are only for our welfare and not at all to cause us any pain (Jer.29:11). When we begin to see God like this, and more and more as we get to know Him through His word, and personally through our experiences, we begin to trust Him more and more. Even when we find ourselves in difficult situations when we cannot figure out what is going on or what is going to happen, we can still trust in God knowing that our Father is watching over us.Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego are great examples for us. When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon built a golden statue of himself and asked everyone to bow down to it, these godly men refused to do it even when they were threatened to be thrown into a fiery furnace. They told the king that they knew that God was able to deliver them. But they were not going to disobey God even if He allowed them to die in the fire (Dan.3:17,18). They were facing a very painful death and did not know whether God would save them out of it or allow them to die. But still their faith in Him was so strong that they would not disobey Him.
Let us look at some of the main reasons why we Christians face doubts about God in the different situations of our life.
Some prayers are not answered
We pray because we believe our Father loves us and He is able to do what we ask for. But sometimes we forget that God, as our Father, always knows what is best for us, and many times we don't. We get disappointed when some of our prayers are not answered. But is it not good that they were not answered because God knew that they were not what we needed at that time? We must also remember that God promises to answer our prayers only when we ask anything according to His will for us (1Jn.5:14). Also, there is a greater chance that our prayer will be answered if our goal in that prayer was that the Father may be glorified (Jn.14:13). Was that why we prayed or it was just to make us happy?Certainly God knows, even before we ask, what all things we need for our life on earth (Matt.6:32). He will give us those things. But He is more interested to give us the greater blessing of becoming like Him in our character, or in other words, to partake of His divine nature (2Pet.1:3,4). When we reach eternity we will certainly recognise that this was the greatest promise God could give us. But if we understand that even here, we can learn to prioritise our prayers accordingly.
Cannot understand God in our painful situations
A death in our family, sickness, loss of job and many other situations cause us to wonder where God is. We may wonder if God is angry with us, how a loving Father can do these to us, etc. This perplexity and not getting a proper answer immediately can disturb us very much. But we must remember that most of the trouble we face are also common to people all around the world (1Pet.5:9). On top of that, as Christians we must also be ready to face some level of persecution (Mk.10:30). What encourages us to endure such things is to remember that in the end is eternal life.God uses difficult situations we face in life to test us, to see what our response will be and whether we would choose to stand with Him or compromise (1Pet.4:12). He promises a crown of life to all who perseveres under trial (Jas.1:12). Our challenge is to continue to trust in God even when we can get all the answers we are looking for.
Can't always feel the presence of God
It is good to feel the presence of God in our special times of prayer, worship, etc. It is also good to have some mountain-top experiences in life. But the fact is that we cannot have them always. We will also go through dark times, dry times and times when we feel alone now and then. God says that even those who fear Him and obeys Him may go through times of darkness (Isa.50:10). He tells us therefore to trust Him at such times. If we are walking in the light before God, not having to hide in darkness away from His presence because of hidden sins in our life, then these times do not mean that God is not with us or that He has turned His face away from us. As human beings who are subject to weaknesses of our body and mind, we are sometimes influenced by the tiredness of our body, the stress in our mind and the pressures of our life. Even most godly people sometimes face discouragement or even depression because of these. But the solution is to learn to walk in faith, trusting in God and not relying on our feelings to indicate God's presence with us.Not having the same experiences as before
Christian life is where, spiritually speaking, we grow from being a baby to a mature adult. When we are young in our relationship with God, He feeds us with 'milk', taking care of us just as parents do everything for their children, even carrying us through specially difficult times. But as we begin to grow, God expects us to act with more responsibility, making the right choices, avoiding the snares of the Devil, etc. That is how we develop our spiritual muscles (Heb.5:13,14).While God takes us through different classes in our education, His aim is that we will become more and more able to make our own decisions without being told every time what we should do (Psa.32:8,9). If we don't understand this, we get troubled when we see God doing for us the things He used to do for us before.
Conclusion
One thing we definitely have to learn early in life is to walk by faith and not by sight, experience, explanation, etc. No matter how confusing or perplexing situations are, we must hold on to the promise of Jesus that He will always be with us and never leave or forsake us (Heb.13:5). However inexplicable our situation is, however dry our feelings are, however we are without clear answers to our questions, we can still trust in the Lord Jesus that He is with us. As we exercise our spiritual muscles in this way, that is how we will get to know Him better.