Doubt tweaks and strengthens our faith. Do you believe it?

 

In Faith and Doubt, John Ortberg writes, "Some people think that they cannot become Christians because they still have doubts. To the contrary, it is only when some doubts are present that faith is still a possibility. When we no longer have any doubts, knowledge has come and faith is no more. Doubt is the indispensable requirement for trust."

 

Remember when Jesus was confronted by the man with what seems to be an epileptic son? Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"

 

"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

 

"'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

 

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

 

That unbelief, that uncertainty, is doubt, but it isn't the opposite of faith. It's a realistic part of growing faith. It affirms at least a "mustard seed" sized faith. Most of the New Testament references to doubt pertain to this definition. Growing faith has to have mental and emotional questioning, reservations, and at times more than a little uncertainty.

 

After all we don't know where God is taking us. Like Abraham before us, HE is leading us into unknown and uncharted territory. It is our doubt that forces us to rely on HIS wisdom and HIS unseenness.

 

By the time I was six, I was convinced that monsters lived under my bed. After the lights were turned off, I could hear them and sense them and feel them. My mother tried her best to convince me there was no such thing as monsters and together we would look under my bed to prove her point, but I knew they had secret hiding places. 

 

All that changed in the winter of 1952. 

 

It had been raining for days. and it was late when I finally got to bed. In the middle of the night the monster woke me up. I could see his gun outside the window and hear the tapping of the barrel on the glass. My monster had a visitor.

 

I was frozen! I tried to repeat my mom's words, "There are no such thing as monsters." But the tapping continued. I tried hiding my head and closing my eyes, but the tapping continued. Finally, in sheer terror, I counted to ten and promised myself that I would yell as loudly as I could and jump out of bed and run out of the room. My body, however, did not listen to my promise. 

 

Then, after what seemed to be hours, my body obeyed. I yelled and jumped and ran. Mom and Dad turned on lights and took me back to the room, that's when everything changed. 

 

They could see the shiny metal too. 

 

My dad got his flashlight and headed outside in the dark, where the visitor was. When he returned, we packed up a few things and left for my grandparents' house. 

 

It was a few days before we returned. When we did, we had to take a detour. Our house had been in a landslide. I had slid down the hill 32 inches and remained intact (all utilities slide with it). The hillside backyard was now up against the corner of my bedroom and my trike was hanging from a rose bush handle bars still banging against the window. There was no backyard, and the front yard was across the street and down the hill. 

 

It took weeks to clear the road and years to fix the yard…but somehow, after that night, monsters disappeared. And, God seemed closer.

 

It's time to get realistic. Doubt happens. It's a sign of our growing faith.

 

Expect it. Pray that God will continue to help our unbelief, our doubt. Ask HIM to use doubt times to teach us truth, to show us options, and to convict us of HIS presence inside of our monsters.

 

To grow stronger in faith, you will have to accept and admit the doubts.