The Diversity of Doubts
Doubts are a funny thing. They can permeate almost every aspect of our lives, whether we recognize them or not.
Sometimes they are so subtle that we don’t realize we have them, but they influence how we live our daily lives.
Sometimes they are so obtrusive that we can’t seem to see anything BUT those doubts, haunting us like a storm that follows our every move.
No matter what doubt it is, it is, I would argue, always rooted in a misunderstanding about who God is.
The Most Harmful Misunderstanding
If you think about it, so much of what we struggle with in our lives is centered around a misunderstanding about who God is, whether it be an anxiety or a trauma or anything in between.
Either we are not positive God can fix it (or at least not the way we would prefer it to be fixed) or we wonder if God cares enough to fix it even if we believe He CAN.
This misunderstanding can manifest on our auto-pilot life, doing the best we can the way we understand it should be (also see, “doing what is right in our own eyes.”) … or in us feeling paralyzed because we feel like what we want to believe about God may not be the way we always envisioned it to be.
Doubts in the Christian Life
So, today, I want to tackle a few specific doubts I had once I made the decision to trust God after my ocean of doubts-some of which I covered in Part 1.
A couple weeks ago started us off with “I’m Not Very Good at Reading the Bible,” so let’s go into a few more.
6. Doing What Seems Right in Our Own Eyes
The biggest one that is so easily missed, because of its subtlety, is “doing what is right in [our] own eyes.” (You can do a quick internet search to find some passages about this in the Bible.)
A lot of us are taught, even if just by example, the daily routines, habits, & flow of life as we see best. We don’t see it as doubting God, but we also don’t really stop to consider that He would have a different plan in mind than what we always grew up believing it should look like.
This is a doubt about God that can exist, in one form or another, throughout our entire lives, because it is so subtle that it doesn’t seem like a doubt in God at all, but just merely “the way life is.”
It Permeates So Many Areas of Life
I have talked about this topic many times throughout my blogging journey because I find it permeating my own ideals & habits all the time. I am not trying to do things “my way,” because to me it just feels it’s the only way I know.
We need to take a perspective shift with this one to realize that God’s plans are higher than our plans & extend through the span of eternity & not just the up-to-100+ years we are looking at.
The only way to accomplish a different mindset than “doing what is right in our own eyes,” since that is our automatic route, is to consider & turn to God in all things—spend time reading the Bible consistently, talk to Him regularly, & constantly ask God to show you where you might need to hand more over to Him or adjust for His plan versus your own.
Blessed Are the Meek!
It goes back to our Matthew 5 journey recently in meekness, taking our “strength” & “power” & offering our perceived control over to His perfect strength, wisdom, power, & plan.
Only in making those things of Bible reading, talking to God regularly, & turning more of your life over to Him a regular habit will we begin to see the areas where we are living according to what is “right in our own eyes” & begin to hand those over for God’s better way & better plan.
7. Is God a False-Hope?
The second Christian-life doubt I wrestled with for a long time was that Satan tried to lie & convince me that life was no better in trusting God over myself & that trusting God was a false-hope.
Let me reiterate that as a LIE from Satan & is not based in reality AT ALL.
You see, when I was relying on myself versus God, drowning in my doubts of God & trying to go it alone, I felt lost & alone & hopeless & scared—ALL THE TIME, with BRIEF pockets of relief.
BUT, when I finally turned those reins over to God, asking HIM to be in control, I felt steady & sure & stable, because I was trusting a sure thing, versus my flimsy self.
Hard Times Still Come, But It Is God Who Carries Us Through
Did hard times still come? Heck yes! And they still do! But now, even in my aching heart, even when things aren’t “magically fixed” like I wish them to be, I STILL HAVE a sure hope to count in, that God has a plan & WILL carry me through as I lean into Him.
What was once ALWAYS dark & scary & unsure, with brief moments of relief, became temporary pockets of dark, scary, unsure moments UNTIL I slump at His “feet” & ask Him to carry me through & be my strength in the hurts.
He is my hope, even when the world feels hopeless.
We will feel faithless at our worst, & Satan will try to riddle us with guilt & shame for it, but God is there to remind us that His faithfulness is not dependent on ours… & that all we need to do is cry out to Him & He will be there, ALWAYS, to carry us through our worst days.
8. Are We Supposed to Prove Our Faith by Living It Well on Our Own?
The last Christian Life doubt I want to talk about today ties in with the first one we covered earlier in this post, “doing what seems right in our own eyes.”
Not only in how we live should we be turning over the reins to God, like we talked about, but also in HOW WE SERVE GOD.
This means reading our Bible, talking to God about everything, & living for Him by serving & loving others.
But it also means trusting GOD to HELP us read our Bibles, talk to Him about everything, & live for Him in serving & loving others.
We don’t have to do those things in our own strength or willpower.
When We Know We Should But Don’t Want to or Feel We Can’t… God Can Help
We can submit our lack of willingness, pride, bad attitude, stubbornness, laziness, boredom, distractions, busyness, ailments, & EVERYTHING ELSE that keeps us from submitting to a healthy growth toward God, TO God.
We can open up & be real with Him about it, even if it’s our own lack of desire to do it or bad attitude or pride—He ALREADY KNOWS. So, open up to Him about it, get real with Him, confess it to Him, & ASK FOR HIS HELP WITH IT.
Sometimes Faithfulness Is Trusting in & Asking for His Help… Even in the Misplaced Desires or Lack There Of
I cannot tell you how many times I have to ask for His help with all the reasons I mentioned above. ALL. OF. THEM. Regularly.
I may know it’s good for me… Consistency in the last few years may have been blessing my life beyond what I imagined it could, BUT I STILL STRUGGLE & have to ask for His help sometimes.
Especially with prayer lately. I can inner dialog all day long to work out a solution without once considering, “Oh yeah, God…. Um, can You help me?” It’s embarrassing, but true!
So, Please, Please, PLEASE stop trying to live for Him on your own willpower steam & start submitting all of your obstacles to HIM for help, even if those obstacles are YOU & your unwillingness or lack of desire to follow through with it.
Quick Recap of Covered Doubts
Let’s recap the doubts we have covered so far, in the past 3 posts about doubts:
- Jesus is THE way & there is NO OTHER way… & that is a good thing because He is saying we can’t save ourselves, but He has saved US, if we just accept His gracious gift of forgiveness.
- God IS real—we can see Him in the specific order AND vast variety of creation… & in how He interacts with us PERSONALLY the more we submit to know Him more.
- You’re NEVER “unsavable” because again, it’s not based on what you can do, but on what Jesus has done FOR YOU.
- We pray because He CAN hear us & we know He can hear us because He interacts with us on a personal level as we grow to know Him more & is big enough to answer our God-honoring desires & still work His plan.
- Reading your Bible consistently IS nourishment to you, it will change how you see & trust God, AND it is possible by asking for God’s help with it.
- Doing it HIS way is always best, & even in the small, subtle ways, we should be asking for God’s guidance & wisdom to guide our steps along the way.
- Pain & struggle does not mean God is not our perfect anchor, nor does it mean we lack “enough” faith, but is a call to fall in His arms recognizing His power & strength in light of our weakness & frailty.
- Abiding in God & living for God is not meant to be done by sheer willpower, but by asking for God’s help & wisdom & strength & a change in our hearts every step of the way. Not perfection, but growth.
Next week, I plan to talk about fears & pain & struggle in light of our doubts about God, so make sure to come back for that.
Shine HOPE by looking to Him in all things great & small.
Coming Next Week
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As God grows me, may it encourage you to seek Him & know Him & love Him more every day.
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A Note from Michelle:
If you would like to hear more of my story, check out the “About Me” page. And if you would like to hear how I found my lasting source of HOPE, read the “Hope Is Found” page, on this site. I hope they are an encouragement to you! <3
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