Doubting Faith

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called. Ephesians 1:18 (NLT)

Yesterday I spoke about the image of the polar bear on the thin layer of sea ice surrounded by a vast stretch of sea. When polar bears find themselves in a vulnerable situation like this, it will take a lot of energy and effort on their part to maintain their stability on the thin sea ice and to move to the next one. We also talked about moving from the thin ice of doubt to the solid ground that the Lord wants to place our feet upon. Sometimes, however, the chasm between thin ice and the solid ground can seem insurmountable. We become exhausted from trying to cross the chasm. We feel like giving up. We may even reach the place where we feel our faith in God is pointless. But the irony is that a life with God is never a life exempt from doubt.

Os Guinness, in his book God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt, says this:

“Other people have a concept of God so fundamentally false that it would be better for them to doubt than to remain devout. ......... Doubt in such a case is not only highly understandable, it is even a mark of spiritual and intellectual sensitivity to error, for their picture is not of God but an idol.”

Crossing the Great Divide

When we succumb to doubt in the existence of God, the fundamental question we should ask ourselves is, “Is the God whose existence we are doubting, really God, the Great I Am, or is He an idol of our own making. When we pursue God in His Word, we will find the true God. This pursuit is a lifelong, transformative pursuit that will cause us to grow in the knowledge of Him. This is what Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus:

I pray for you constantly,  asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. Ephesians 1:16-17

In the verses that follow, he prayed that their hearts would be flooded with light so that they would understand the confident hope He has given them and the incredible greatness of God’s power. (Ephesians 1:18-19). When we grow in knowledge of the One True God,  we will be able to cross the chasm, the great divide between doubt and faith. We can do this because Jesus has already done this for us through His death on the cross and resurrection. When Jesus crossed the chasm, he gave us a confident hope in the omnipotent God who will never fail us. A hope that tells us that a life without God is no life at all.

What God is doing may be mystery, but who God is, is not. Os Guinness

Reflection:

Do you sometimes feel that the chasm between doubt and faith is insurmountable? Ask God to help you have a confident hope in Him. He will never fail you.

Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, You see my doubts. I give them to You. Show me how I can gain a better understanding of who You are. Help me to cross the chasm from doubt to a confident hope and trust in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.