Doubts

Christians often struggle with doubts that hinder their faith. Doubt is seen as a sinful habit that must be rejected, just like other temptations. Overcoming it requires fully surrendering to God, trusting in His promises, and refusing to entertain doubts. A life of continuous trust in God’s love and faithfulness is essential.

Agreat number of Christians are slaves to the habit of doubting. No drunkard was ever more completely bound by the chains of his fatal habit than they are by those chains. Their whole Christian life is a constant battle. An army of doubts lies in wait to attack at any chance. Their lives are wretched. Their doubts hinder their usefulness and break their communion with God.

The soul's entry into the life of faith, which this book discusses, often banishes doubts. But, they sometimes resurge. They can cause stumbling and despair. They can't fully turn the believer back to the dreary wilderness.

We all remember, doubtless, the childish mix of fascination and horror in that story. It was about Christian's imprisonment in Doubting Castle by the wicked giant Despair. We felt extremely happy in his escape from those massive gates and that cruel tyrant. We did not suspect then that we would be imprisoned by the same giant, in the same castle. And yet I fear to every member of the Church of Christ there has been at least one such experience. If it's not fresh in your minds, please read the account again. You may find there experiences of your own. They were very hard to bear and sorrowful to remember.

It's strange that people called Believers must confess such doubts. Their name suggests their only trait is belief. It is such a universal habit that, if the Church were renamed, "Doubters" would be the only fitting name. Most Christians have accepted their doubts. They see them as a painful, inevitable illness.

They must resign themselves to it as part of life's discipline. They complain about their doubts as a man might complain about his aches and pains. They want to be seen as an "interesting case" of rare trial, needing deep sympathy and great care.

This is often true of believers. They long to live by faith and have taken many steps towards it. They may have lost their old doubts. They once tormented them. They wondered if their sins were forgiven and if they'd reach Heaven. But, they still doubt. They have simply shifted the habit to a higher platform. They are saying, perhaps, “Yes, I believe my sins are forgiven, and I am a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. I dare not doubt this anymore.

But then, and this "but then" includes doubts about every promise our Father has made to His children.

They fight with them, refusing to believe until they have better proof of their truth than God's word.

They wonder why they can walk in such darkness. They see themselves as martyrs. They groan under the unique spiritual conflicts they must endure. Spiritual conflicts! Far better would they be named did we call them spiritual rebellions! Our fight is to be a fight of faith, and the moment we doubt, our fight ceases and our rebellion begins.

I desire to put forth, if possible, one vigorous protest against this whole thing. I might as well join in with a drunkard's complaints. I might as well pray with him for grace to endure his fatal indulgence. It is as foolish as to console the enslaved souls with their weak complaints. I can do nothing else but proclaim to them the perfect deliverance the Lord Jesus Christ has for them. I implore, entreat, and command them, with all my being, to accept it and be free. Not for one moment would I listen to their despairing excuses. You ought to be free, you can be free, and you must be free!

Will you undertake to tell me that it is an inevitable necessity for God to be doubted by His children?

Is it an inevitable necessity for your children to doubt you? Would you tolerate their doubts a single hour? Would you pity your son if he said, "Father, I cannot believe your word, I cannot trust your love"? Would you find him an interesting case? I remember once seeing the indignation of a mother I knew, stirred to its very depths by a little doubting on the part of one of her children. She had brought two little girls to my house to leave them while she did some errands. One of them, with a child's happy confidence, abandoned herself to my nursery. She found all the pleasures there. She sang and played until her mother returned.

The other one, with unfortunate caution of maturity, sat alone in a corner. She wondered if her mother would remember to come back for her. She feared being forgotten. She imagined her mother would be glad to get rid of her, since she was a naughty girl. In the end, she worked herself into a perfect frenzy of despair. I shall not easily forget the look on that mother's face. It was after her weeping little girl returned and told her what the matter was. Grief, wounded love, indignation, and pity, all strove together for mastery. But indignation gained the day, and I doubt if that little girl was ever so vigorously dealt with before. That scene has come before me a hundred times since. It has taught me deeply. It has compelled me to refuse doubts about my Heavenly Father's love. Those doubts have clamored at my heart's door for entrance.

I am convinced that, for many, doubting is a luxury. To deny themselves that would be the hardest self- denial they know. It is a luxury that, like all other luxuries, brings sorrowful results. Perhaps, seeing the sadness it has caused in your own Christian life, you may be tempted to say, Sad! This is no luxury to me, but only a fearful trial.” But pause for a moment. Try gi ving it up, and you will soon find out whether it is a luxury or not. Don't your doubts come to you like a group of friends? They sympathize with your troubles and want to comfort you.

Is it not a luxury to sit with them, entertain them, and listen to their arguments? To join in their condolences? Would it be no self-denial to turn resolutely from them, and refuse to hear a word they have to say?

If you don't know, try it and see. Have you never enjoyed the luxury of hard thoughts against those who wronged you? Have you never known the joy of brooding over their unkindness? Of prying into their malice? Of imagining all sorts of wrong, uncomfortable things about them? It has made you wretched, of course. But, it is a fascinating sort of wretchedness that you cannot easily give up. And just like this is the luxury of doubting. Things have gone wrong with you in your experience.

Dispensations are mysterious. Temptations are odd. Your case seems unique. What could be more natural than to conclude that, for some reason, God has forsaken you? That he does not love you and is indifferent to your welfare? And how strong is the belief that you are too wicked for Him to care, or too difficult for Him to manage?

You do not blame Him or accuse Him of injustice. You feel that you deserve His indifference and rejection due to your unworthiness. This trick lets you doubt yourself while pretending to be humble.

But you are indulging in hard, wrong thoughts about your Lord, as much as you did of a human enemy.

He says He came not to save the righteous, but sinners. Your sinfulness and unworthiness are your best claims to His love and care.

The poor little lamb that has wandered and got lost in the wilderness might well say, "The shepherd does not love, care for, or remember me, because I am lost." He only loves and cares for the lambs that never wander.” As well might the ill man say, “The doctor will not come to see me, nor give me any medicines, because I am ill. He only cares for and visits well people.” Jesus say s , “ Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick.”(Mathew 9:12) And again He says, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”(Luke15:4 -6) Any thoughts of Him that differ from His own words are hard thoughts. To indulge in them is far worse than to indulge in hard thoughts of any earthly friend or foe. From the beginning to the end of your Christian life it is always sinful to indulge in doubts. Doubts are all from the devil, and are always untrue. And the only way to meet them is by a direct and emphatic denial. And this brings me to the practical part of the whole subject, as to how to get deliverance from this fatal habit. My answer would be that the deliverance from this can be by no other means than the deliverance from any other sin. It is to be found in the Lord and in Him only. You must hand your doubting over to Him, as you have learned to hand your other temptations. You must do just what you do with your temper, or your pride.

You must give it up to the Lord.

I believe the only remedy is to take a pledge against it. As you would urge a drunkard to do against drink. Trust in the Lord alone to keep you steadfast.

Like any other sin, the stronghold is in the will. You must surrender your will to doubt, just as you would to any other temptation. God always takes possession of a surrendered will. If we say we will not doubt and surrender our core to Him, His Spirit will work in us. We shall be kept from doubting by His great power. The trouble is, the soul often does not fully surrender. It reserves a small freedom to doubt, seeing it as sometimes necessary. "I do not want to doubt anymore," we will say, or, "I hope I shall not." But , it is hard to say, "I will not doubt again."”

But no surrender is effectual until it reaches the point of saying, “I will not”. The liberty to doubt must be given up forever. And the soul must consent to a continuous life of inevitable trust. I think, it is often necessary to end this doubt. We must reach a decision on it. I believe it is quite as necessary in the case of a doubter as in the case of a drunkard. It will not do to give it up by degrees. The total abstinence principle is the only effectual one here. Once surrendered, the soul must rest entirely on the Lord for deliverance in every temptation. It must lift up the shield of faith the moment the assault comes. It must hand the very first suggestion of doubt over to the Lord, and must tell the enemy to settle the matter with Him.

It must refuse to listen to the doubt a single moment. No matter how plausible or humble it seems, the soul must say, "I dare not doubt; I must trust." The Lord is good, and HE DOES love me. Jesus saves me; He save s me now.” Those three little words, repeated over and over, -- "Jesus saves me, Jesus saves me," -- will defeat the greatest army of doubts that ever attacked a soul. I have tried it times without number, and have never known it to fail. Do not stop to argue the matter out with your doubts, nor try to prove that they are wrong. Pay no attention to them whatever; treat them with the utmost contempt. Shut your door in their faces, and emphatically deny every word they say to you. Bring up some “It is written,” and hurl it after them. Look right at Jesus, and tell Him you trust Him, and you mean to trust Him. Let the doubts clamor as they may, they cannot hurt you if you will not let them in.

It may seem like you are shutting the door on your best friends. Your heart will long for your doubts more than the Israelites longed for the flesh-pots of Egypt. But deny yourself; take up your cross in this matter. Unmercifully refuse to listen to a word. A perfect army of doubts awaited my waking and clamored at my door for admittance. Nothing seemed real or true. Least of all, it seemed possible that I -- miserable and wretched -- could be the object of the Lord's love, care, or notice. If only I could let these doubts in. If I could invite them to sit and make themselves at home, what a luxury that would be! But years ago, I pledged against doubting. I would as soon violate my pledge against liquor as this one.

I dared not admit the first doubt. I lifted my shield of faith the moment I noticed these thoughts. I gave my whole army to my Lord to conquer. Then, I kept saying, "The Lord does love me." He is my present and my perfect Saviour; Jesus saves me, Jesus saves me now!”

The victory was complete. The enemy came in like a flood. But the Lord raised a standard against him.

He was routed and put to flight. My soul sings the song of Moses and the children of Israel. It says, " Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, I will sing to the LORD, FOR he has triumphed gloriously; the hor se and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” (Exodus 15:1) “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. ”(Exodus 15:2 -3). It will help you to resist the assaults of this temptation to doubt, to see clearly that doubting is sin. It directly disobeys our Lord, who commands us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27) The Bible everywhere commands us to trust, with no exceptions. Time and room would fail me to refer to one hundredth part of these. But no one can read the Psalms without being convinced. The man who trusts without question is the only one who pleases and is accepted by God. The “provocation” of Israel was that they did not trust; “Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness? He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people? “Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.” (Psalms 78:17 -22.)

In contrast, Isaiah says of those who tr ust, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. "(Isaiah 26:3) Nothing wounds us like a friend's doubt. I am convinced, nothing grieves God more than our doubt.

One of my children, now with the Lord, said to me one evening as I tucked her in bed, "Well, mother, I have had my first doubt."” “Oh, Ray,” I said, “What was it?” “Why,” she replied, “Satan came to me and told me not to believe the Bible, for it was not a word of it true.” “And what did you say to him?”

I asked. “Oh,” she replied, triumphantly, “I just said to him, Satan, I will believe it. So there!” I was delighted with the child's spiritual intelligence. She knew how to meet doubts. I encouraged her, explaining that all doubts and discouragements are from the enemy. He is a liar, so never listen to him.

The next night, I had forgotten all about it. So, I was surprised when she said, as I tucked her in, "Well, mother, Satan has been at it again."” “Oh, Ray darling!” I exclaimed in dismay, “what did he say this time?” "Well," she replied, "he just told me I was such a naughty girl that Jesus could not love me. It was foolish to think He did."” “And what did you say this time?” I asked. “Oh!” she replied, “I just looked at him cross and said, Satan, shut your mouth!” And then she added, with a smile, “He can’t make me unhappy one bit.” A grander battle no soul ever fought than this little child had done, and no greater victory was ever won!

Dear, doubting soul, go and do likewise; and a similar victory shall be yours. As you lay down this book take up your pen and write out your determination never to doubt again. Make it a real transaction between your soul and the Lord. Give up your liberty to doubt forever. Put your will in this matter over on the Lo rd’s side, and trust Him to keep you from falling. Tell him of your weakness and your doubts.

Your enemy has you helpless. Commit the whole battle to Him. Tell Him you will not doubt again.

Then, keep your gaze on Jesus.

Turn away from yourself and your doubts. Hold on to your faith, for He is faithful who has promised.

If you stay confident to the end, you will, through Him who loves you, be more than a conqueror in this matter.