Removing the Doubt

Today as I was doing a short devotional I realized that I didn't have the current month's STAND FIRM magazine from Lifeway, but I had the October edition. I knew I hadn't read October 20th's daily devotional so I decided to do it today. WOW, what timing....the type of timing that helps strengthen our faith and remove the doubt. Here is what I read.

QUIET FEAR

Dave had been a Christian for decades, but was embarrassed and scared by the waves of doubt that sometimes swept over Iris soul, lie had taught men's groups, youth groups, Sunday School— name the ministry and Dave had probably helped out. Many in his church regarded him as a Bible scholar. He knew the correct answers. But some times late at night, the questions rushed at him with the force of a locomotive. “What if his is all just happy talk? What if humans invented the idea of God because we were so terrified of death? Worse yet, what if there is a God but He is just setting us up?’’
DOUBT DIMINISHED
Swallowing his pride and fear, Dave poured out his doubts to a close brother in Christ. "Join the club," was the reply. The two friends swapped stories of their struggle with doubt, and in the act of verbalizing the doubt and reminding themselves of the truth they knew, the crisis of faith shrunk from a howling wolf to a small but irritating poodle. We all doubt. It is part of the life of Faith. Jude instructs us to have mercy on those who doubt. Don't criticize them, panic over them, or dismiss their fears. Have mercy. Listen. Show grace. Empathize. The rocky path of belief is often strewn with doubts along the way. We should expect that, since an untested faith is really no faith at all.
BOTTOM LINE
Show mercy to the doubters—including yourself!

"Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving." - Frederick Buechner

God's timing for this message was perfect in my life. I have found that when I'm not able to attend worship over a period of a few weeks and my daily Bible study and prayer life is on sabatical, doubt starts to creep in more and more. This also happens when I see world events unfolding that are not God honoring and I stop to question why a sovreign God would allow these things to happen. I find that my "intellectual" side starts to question God. I fall into the same trap that the humanists do in thinking that somehow my opinions and thoughts are somehow more valid than those of God or worse, that I have better ideas than Him. During these times I have to return to two things: Experience and Faith.
Experience tells me that my doubts are unfounded because God has been very real to me. He's given me direction when I needed it, peace when I couldn't find it, healing when doctors were stumped, and protection when my own flesh was trying to drag me to destruction.
Faith tells me that my doubts are unfounded because God is bigger than intellect. The problem with doubt is that we are putting faith in our own understanding instead of the creator of the universe. At one time people thought the earth was flat and the center of the universe. They thought that drilling holes in people's heads would relieve headaches. They believed that we all evolved from pond scum over millions of years....wait...they still believe that....
Ins the midst of the doubts, I turn back to God's Word and the simple truth that "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones (like me) to Him belong, they (we) are weak but He is strong."