The church today is terrified of doubt. Doubt has become the new unpardonable sin. As one conservative talk show host said recently, tears in his eyes, “It’s better to believe in something, even if it’s wrong.”

That is not faith. But we are so afraid of questions that we will deny any evidence placed before us before we will admit doubts. We are so afraid of doubt that we will stand firm long after it is clear we are wrong because it is better to be certain and wrong than admit uncertainty.

And yet, over and over in the lives of the saints in the Bible, we read of their moments of doubt. Read the lives of the great Christians of the past, and every one of them faced doubt and often more than once in their Christian lives. To doubt is to be human, to recognize human frailty and the limits of human knowledge and experience. Paul tells us that now “we see through a glass darkly,” now “we know in part” (KJV, I Corinthians 13.12). In this life, we will never know the answers to all the questions that face us, and it is only hubris, the worst kind of arrogance to suggest we can.

Faith is no more the absence of doubt than courage is the absence of fear. In Mark chapter 9, a man brought his son to the disciples, a child tormented by seizures, but they were unable to heal him. And when the man brought his son to Christ, the child fell into a fit, and his father said to Christ, “if you can do anything, please have compassion on my son.”

Christ looked at the man and said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to those who believe.”

And that father, torn by doubt, cried out, tears streaming down his face, “I believe, oh, help me believe” (KJV, Mark 9.17-27).

Jesus didn’t condemn him for his doubt. Jesus didn’t berate him. Jesus didn’t say, “I’m sorry. Your faith just isn’t strong enough.” Jesus healed his son. Jesus healed his son because, in the midst of doubt, the man believed. Hebrews 11: 1 tells us that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV, Heb. 11.1). Faith is not dead certainty. Faith is not blind belief. Faith comes with humility and a contrite heart.

Hours before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples he would be taken and they would abandon him. When Peter heard Christ’s words, he said, “Oh. no, Jesus. Not me. All these may doubt, but not me. I will be faithful. I will be true.” And Jesus looked him in the eye and said, “Peter, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me thrice.”

And, Peter said, “I will die before I deny you” (KJV, Matthew 26. 31-35). Peter was so angry. How could Jesus doubt his faith? And moments later, when Judas came with the betrayer’s kiss, and the high priest’s servant stepped forward to take Jesus into custody, Peter leapt forward, swinging his blade, and if the servant hadn’t ducked, Peter would have taken off his head instead of his ear (KJV, John 18:10-11). And then, does Jesus reward him for his faith? No, Jesus turns to Peter and tells him to put down his sword, that those who live by the sword, die by the sword, then heals the servant’s wound before meekly going to his doom. And before the cock crowed morning, Peter, cursing and angry, had denied Christ (KJV, Luke 22.51-62).

And then, in his humiliation, then, his pride broken, then, his arrogance drowned in tears, heartbroken, then, Peter was open to faith. On Sunday morning, when Christ arose from the dead, and the women coming to bind his body found an angel waiting for them, the angel told them “tell his disciples and Peter that he will see them in Galilee just as he promised (KJV, Mark 16.1-7). Tradition says that some short time later, Christ spoke to Peter, privately, and we don’t know what was said, but Peter, his arrogance obliterated, found faith, and with faith, forgiveness.

The true response to doubt is not blind faith. The true response to doubt is humility and prayer, patience and fervent study, waiting on God, who in his own good time, will come to us.

God, grant us the humility to endure doubt
Teach us to pray, in faith believing,
and when all hope is gone,
help us turn to your word,
help us turn to you in prayer,
broken and humble,
to find faith.

© Bill Stifler, 2009