by Jacob Ninan
Many people think of doubts as enemies of faith or as something incompatible with faith. But that is because there are two aspects of doubts that they are not distinguishing between. To doubt the veracity of God or His word and to question Him in disbelief is wrong as well as foolish. But there is also another healthy way of questioning things with a view to getting a clearer understanding or for clarifying confusing ideas.
We can get the general idea about this differentiation between these two kinds of doubts by looking at the example of two people in the Bible, namely Zacharias, the father of John the baptist, and Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Zacharias and Elizabeth his wife were old people who did not have any children. Zacharias was serving as a priest of the Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem. God sent the angel Gabriel to him with a message saying that they were going to receive a son called John (Lk.1:13). But Zacharias could not believe this, when he thought about how old he and his wife were, instead of thinking that this was God speaking to him and that all things were possible for God (v.18). If we remember the fact that this was an experienced priest of God questioning what God had said, we can understand why God immediately disciplined him by taking away his ability to speak till John was born. We can see that Zacharias did not believe God and doubted the validity of His word (Heb.11:6).
In contrast to this, we see a young woman called Mary, who was engaged to be married to Joseph, being told by the same angel how she was going to have a baby called Jesus (Lk.1:30,31). As a virgin, she wondered how this was going to happen (v.34). As we can see in the rest of the chapter, Mary was not doubting God or what He had told her, but she was wondering in what way this was going to happen. The angel responded by saying that the Holy Spirit was going to do a supernatural work in her body that that was how this would take place. This is an example of questioning things with a desire to know more or to clarify ideas in the mind, and this was not done in unbelief.
If we would rather trust what scientists or other experts say from their understanding even when they contradict what God has said, we display unbelief. For example, if we were to doubt how Jesus could have walked on water because we know the effect of gravity, or we found it difficult to believe that the children of Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, we are questioning the ability of God and the veracity of the word of God, because we are not taking into consideration that it is God we are dealing with who was the One who created the laws of nature! If we believe more in our own understanding or our experience and conclude that since certain things in God's word do not fit, they cannot be right, we doubt God, and we might even end up giving up our faith in God. If we don't believe that God can heal someone or answer our prayers in a supernatural manner, we question God.
In different situations of life, there are many questions that come to our mind, and they are not to be rejected outright thinking that we don't want to entertain doubt. Should we then blindly accept things certain others tell us, or just stick to whatever ideas we already have? In that way, we won't be able to grow in the knowledge of God or get closer to Him. On the other hand, when we address the questions in our mind before God, He can then teach us many things, and then we can even get to the place where we can help others with their questions. What matters is the heart relationship with God and the motive with which we ask questions. If our goal is to understand things better or clarify things in our own mind, and not to question God or to prove He is wrong, God will be happy to answer our questions and He will not be angry with us (Jas.1:5).
Let us look at a couple of examples from the Bible where people expressed their questions to God. "Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?" (Psa.10:1). Here, the psalmist found himself in trouble and was wondering where God was. He expected God's presence with him and His help to deal with his problem, but it appeared to him that God was nowhere to be seen! Even though this was how it appeared to him, the fact was that God was there. God has promised to be with us always and never to leave or forsake His people. So, when he took this question to God, God would have reminded him about these promises, and then he would have become stronger in faith to be able to face such situations in the future. In another psalm, the psalmist wondered why wicked people seemed to be having a good time facing no problem while people who wanted to be faithful to God were facing a lot of challenges (Psa.73:2,3). But when he went with this question before God, he understood that the wicked people were not getting away with anything at all (vv.17,18). God was giving them time to repent, and if they did not repent, judgment would come to them either in this world or on the judgment day.
At the end of taking our questions to God sincerely and openly, we come away with better understanding of Him and His ways. God loves to answer these questions from His people. He may not answer us immediately, but He will clarify our doubts in different ways as we wait on Him. It may be directly in our heart, or as we read the Bible, listen to a message, or read a book. If we go on in this way, little by little, our faith increases based on a better understanding of God. Then we won't remain fragile as before if we were to take things by blind faith.
In my life, I have taken many questions to God concerning my personal life and about other things. For example, I have asked God to show me if I was really saved or just imagining so, whether I was really baptised in the Holy Spirit, whether I was really speaking in tongues or just making some sounds, how I could know that the Bible was reliable, whether Jesus was the only way when others were claiming differently, etc. This has truly made my convictions stronger (Heb.11:1). At the same time, I have also understood that God may not always give me all the answers which I am looking for, e.g., whether a particular person I was praying for was going to be healed. So, there may be things God considers unnecessary for me to know now, and perhaps He will reveal them in eternity. But, like a little child going to his father with whatever questions he has, let us also go to our heavenly Father with our questions. This will bring us closer to Him.