Oh ye, of little faith! I used to think those were the harshest words in the Bible. Can you imagine what it must’ve felt like for the disciples to hear Jesus say that to them knowing full well that they were doing their very best to walk by Faith. I’m sure they were racked with guilt thinking, here they are stretching themselves in faith to follow the new Messiah, and yet all He seems to see in them is doubt. Imagine the shame they felt, like they were weak. Imagine the guilt they felt, like that we’re failing. I’m sure that’s not hard for you to imagine because most all of us struggle with doubt in our walk with God and when we do, we’re racked with the same guilt, plagued by the same shame.
Well, I have good news for you today: doubt is normal! It’s especially normal for those who are trying to walk by faith! If you feel doubt or have questions about the things of God… you’re doing it right! Everyone in the Kingdom has felt doubt at sometime, me included!
One of the reasons we feel so bad about doubt is because we often think doubt is the opposite of faith, but it’s not. Doubt is part of the faith journey. Consider that when Jesus says, “oh ye of little faith”, He’s saying it to the disciples when they’re walking by faith, expressing their faith and acting in faith. Sure, their faithful activities aren’t perfect but they’re still faithful! They were exercising their faith as best they could, doing things they had never done before, and that meant they felt doubt.
Doubt can sometimes be proof that we’re stretching ourselves beyond our natural comfort and past our sense of certainty and trusting in a God whom we can’t see. Doubt is sometimes is evidence that we have faith we’re putting it to work.
Consider, for example, the story of the father, whose son is sick in Mark 9:24. The father cries out to Jesus after being instructed that healing comes through faith, “I believe; help my unbelief!“. What a wonderful picture of vulnerability from this father. He’s saying in so many words, “Jesus I believe you, but this is really hard: I’ve never seen anything like this before and I don’t know how to express this faith.” Some would argue that this is doubt, but I would argue, this is the purest form of faith. It is honest, earnest, and challenging.
I would argue that doubt and faith are not opposites, they’re intertwined. Doubt is the best indication of faith. For example, you don’t doubt things that are certain. You don’t doubt things you can see. You only doubt things that require faith. Therefore, the opposite of faith isn’t doubt but certainty.
Faith moves us past what is seen, what is certain and what is obvious towards what is hoped in, what is yearned for and what is to yet come. The people who are called to walk by faith will always wrestle with doubt, because we’ll always be called to walk out of certainty and out of the obvious into the mysterious and into the wonderful.
Perhaps you’ve struggled with doubt in your faith. Perhaps you’ve sometimes wondered if this whole Jesus thing is even real or if the way you’re doing it is real. Can I encourage you today? Feeling doubt about your faith is proof that you have faith. It’s proof that you aren’t walking just in your flesh, it’s proof that you’re trusting in a God who is bigger than you and it is proof that you’re doing something amazing!