Explore the surprising root of doubt and discover practical strategies to transform it into unwavering trust in God's plan. Learn how to lean on faith through prayer, remembrance, and surrender, even when life's circumstances test your belief.
Years ago, I read a book by Hannah Whitall Smith called The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. In one of the chapters, the author compares how easily we trust a chair to hold us up, a restaurant chef to prepare our food safely, or a pilot to bring us to our destination without incident. Yet we can find it hard to trust God with lesser things, let alone the big things of life.
So why do we doubt God so easily? Some may say doubt originates from the unseen. How many of you have said to yourself, “If only I could see God right in front of me, talking to me, seeing his facial expressions, hearing his tone of voice, reassuring me that He’s got whatever is concerning me or causing me doubt in His Sovereign hand.” If you think about it, the examples I shared from the book above have an element of the unseen, yet we trust those things without thinking about them!
We come from a long line of doubters. There are so many stories in the Bible where people saw God’s wonders right before them, yet they still doubted! The Israelites come to mind when, after God led them safely out of Egypt, they heard the voice of God shake a mountain, yet they STILL doubted His ability to make a way. Even when the Israelites felt that Moses was delayed in coming down from the hill, they questioned, saying to Aaron, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.” Exodus 32:1
As demonstrated in the verse above, what if I said that the root of doubt is not the unseen, but it’s about control? When something doesn’t happen according to OUR timeline or according to OUR plan, we doubt God. For instance, you’ve been praying over a situation for a long time without any answers. You begin to suspect that God has even heard you, let alone that He will answer your prayer in the way you hope. Essentially, you are doubting God because He isn’t doing things the way you have basically dictated to Him. I am guilty of the same thing. Yet we have a God whose love shines through every unanswered prayer, every answered prayer, and every time God says wait.
Let’s look at three ways we can turn our doubt into trust.
Lord, I Believe, Help My Unbelief
“And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” And He *answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to
Me!” They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And he asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It has often thrown him into the fire and the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately, the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9:17-24
Anyone who has loved someone can relate to the desperation of this father. He had witnessed his son's suffering since childhood, and now he was standing before the One who performs miracles. In humility, the father asked Jesus to help them. However, by saying “if” you can, the father was not quite sure Jesus could heal his son or would take pity on them to do so. Can you relate to this? I sure can. A dear friend of mine articulated this tension beautifully. “I know He can, but will He??” The truth is, we don’t know what the will of God is, ESPECIALLY concerning healing this side of Heaven. So how do we reconcile this? How do we turn our doubt into trust?
WE PRAY. Nothing changes that fact because indeed we don’t know the will of God. God’s will could very well be to do miraculous healing on this side of Heaven. So we STILL pray for healing. We boldly come to Grace's throne room and plead our case before the Lord. But we also can relinquish control of that situation by praying in the manner Jesus did, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" Luke 22:42 Did you notice something? Why was the “if you can” Jesus rebuked statement from the father, but Jesus Himself used an “if you are willing” statement in HIS prayer to the Heavenly Father? Because the boy’s father was directly referring to Jesus’ ability, whereas Jesus was focused on God’s will, even in the “if you”. Jesus asked that His suffering be removed, but still recognized God’s will in the situation and trusted it.
The next time you doubt a situation causing you great distress, pray boldly! Believe that God WILL answer! But also trust God’s silence, the wait, and how He answers. If your faith is still tested in this manner, pray, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!”
A Book of Remembrance
"Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a scroll of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who think on His name". Malachi 3:16
Isn’t this verse amazing?! To think that the Lord keeps a book of remembrance about our faithfulness to Him, NOT as a means of entrance into Heaven, for we know that only accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior and trusting in His finished work on the cross accomplishes that, but as a vehicle to blessings and an encouragement to those who think God has forgotten them.
How much more should we record about God’s faithfulness to us in our book of remembrance? Although if we were to record EVERY way God has been faithful, there would not be enough space in our home to capture all of those volumes! Yet, we all have those times where God has shown up big and it has bolstered our faith in a mighty way. When we take the time to chronicle those moments, we are building our own “hall of faith” that we can go back and visit when doubts creep in.
The Psalmist David showcases beautifully how to counter doubt with faith. In many psalms, he would cry out and express doubt or fear, but then he would answer those doubts/fears by remembering God’s faithfulness from a similar circumstance in his own life. If David didn’t have his own past story of God’s faithfulness to recall for the particular instance he was distressed about, he would remember on a broader scale what God did for his chosen people. Either way, the memory of God’s faithfulness would remove doubts about his current circumstance and restore his trust in the Lord.
We can apply the “book of remembrance” approach to our own lives, whether it be from the Word of God or from our own faith walk, when situations arise that will inevitably cause us to doubt. And yes, I did say inevitably. We are human, and there will be moments of doubt, but the quicker we turn that doubt into trust, the more we will experience God’s peace. The more we practice this exercise, the more it will become a habit and the less we will doubt God.
Surrendering to the Lord
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight". Proverbs 3:5-6
When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we submitted to His Lordship. This wasn’t just an act at the moment of our conversion, but a life lived wholly submitted to the Lord. I have not wholly submitted to the Lord in all my ways. I’m guessing I’m not alone. We seem to want what we want, but sometimes what we desire isn’t necessarily bad. There could be someone who has prayed for a baby for years, but has not been able to conceive. There might be a spouse who has been praying that God would save their marriage, but the marriage still ends up in divorce. Some might be fighting for the safety and well-being of their children in a custody battle, but the outcome might not be what was hoped for. These are just a few circumstances where our desire comes from good intentions. When the answer doesn’t come or the answer comes with great disappointment, this is when our faith is tested the most. If we aren’t careful, our doubt in God could become a roadblock to trusting Him again.
I went through a situation this summer where I wasn’t understanding what was happening. I thought I had God all figured out, how He would proceed with the difficult circumstance based on how it was already going, but then everything changed, or at least I thought it had… Later, I found out it wasn’t as it appeared. BUT I believe the Lord allowed me to have this crisis of faith to check my heart. The issue
was so big and important; indeed, it would be characterized as something with the right intentions, even by others. However, I needed to take my focus off all the players and place it squarely back on the Lord. Believe me, it took a lot of repeating to myself the promises of God while not leaning on my understanding and submitting the outcome to Him repeatedly.
I was talking to someone who said she recently realized concerning her life’s circumstance that “maybe it’s not my situation I need to surrender to God, but ME”. Sometimes it’s a simple phrase that gives a fresh perspective to scripture. We all struggle with doubt and must only surrender to God. It may be something we have to do repeatedly, but it doesn’t make it any less effective. Judson W. Van DeVenter’s hymn I Surrender All is a great hymn to have on replay in your mind when times of doubt come. “All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live. Refrain: I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”
Father, help me believe in ALL circumstances. Please remind me of your faithfulness. Work in me to surrender all to your Goodness and Love.
Is there an area of your life where you consistently struggle with doubt? How will you turn that doubt into trust?
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