Suffering & Doubt
Suffering Blog Four: Suffering & Doubt
(Taken from the book titled “Suffering” by Paul David Tripp)
Who hasn’t doubted God at one time or another, in moments of suffering and trial – especially when that trial lasts for an extended period. You may have been told that it is always wrong to doubt God, but I want you to know that doubt in and of itself is not a bad thing. Doubt can cause you to ask profoundly important questions. Doubt will make you think deeply about very important things. Doubt will allow you to expose and reject falsehood. It has the power to lead you to the One who knows and understands everything. Your capacity to doubt can drive you to God – but not always.
There are two kinds of doubts. First is the doubt of wonderment. God’s ways can confuse you. The Scriptures declare that his ways are not our ways. His plans often don’t mesh with the plans we have for ourselves. He will exercise his power to deliver not what we want but what he knows we need. What God knows is good for us doesn’t always look good to us. He takes us places we would never choose to go. I believe I just heard a loud cry of AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!
At street level, the life of faith is always a struggle of trust. In this struggle of trust, you will be left with questions about what God is doing. If the doubt of wonderment causes you to come to God with sincere questions, asking is an act of faith. You are not rebelling against him; you’re not running from him. You’re not demanding answers but crying out of your confusion for the help that only he can give. God won’t always make sense to you, and when he doesn’t, bringing your doubts to him is good – is healthy. (See Psalms 4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 22, 42, 43, 44, 69, 73, 74, 77, 79, 80, 83, 85, 88, 90, 94, 103, 115).
But there is a second and not so healthy form of doubt. It is the doubt of judgment. This form of doubt is the result of concluding that, because of our circumstances, God is not good and therefore not worthy of our trust. It is to bring God into the court of our judgment and determine he is unfaithful, unloving, or uncaring in some way. Once this happens, you no longer actually believe what you once believed about God, that he is with you or loves you. Your suffering has told you that God is not good, so you quit seeking, following, and relying on him for help.
Sowing seeds of this kind of doubt in the hearts of sufferers is one of the enemy’s most powerful weapons. We get a glimpse of this in the apostle Peter’s first letter.
1 Peter 5:9
“Resist him, stand firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world.”
Peter’s first letter is written to Christians who are suffering and as he closes his letter, he pens these words. Why would Peter say, “Look around, you aren’t the only one suffering”? Is he saying, “Stop whining as if you’re the only ones who suffer in a broken world”? Does he know that misery tends to love company, so he’s giving them some kind of backhanded comfort here? NO! Peter is doing something deeply theological and insightful.
Peter knows that when we suffer, we are susceptible to the lies that the devil whispers in our ears.
“Where is your God now?”
“Why have you been singled out to suffer in this way?”
Perhaps God does have his favorites list and you aren’t on it.”
“Why isn’t God listening to your prayers?”
“Why do others seem to have it so much easier than you?”
“Maybe God doesn’t really love you after all.”
The function of all these lies is to sow seeds of doubt in our hearts when we feel the weakest, the most afraid, and are reaching out for help. His lies are meant to damage and weaken our faith so that on the other side of suffering (if there is another side) we will not love, seek, and serve God as we once did. The devil’s fiery arrows are directed at our hearts so that we will become casualties of war. Holding on to childlike faith during life challenges is spiritual warfare. Peter’s statement is meant to give his readers weapons of victory in the battle for our hearts.
He is saying, “Look around. Your suffering has nothing to do with God singling you out, turning his back, ignoring your need, or forgetting about your pain. Your brothers and sisters all around the world are carrying their own package of trials and suffering. It is impossible to live between the now and not yet without suffering somehow, someway in a world cursed by disease, decay, and death. Your suffering is not a sign that you have been forsaken; rather, it’s a sign that you live in a world, because of human sin, that does not function the way God intended it and needs complete renewal.”
Peter’s words are that of a loving pastor who knows what his people are facing and how the devil’s strategy, through suffering, is to deaden your faith by deadening your heart.
The doubt of wonderment will drive you to God with normal, situational questions of faith, and, because it does, it will strengthen your rest and reliance on him while you experience the difficulties of life. The doubt of judgment will progressively weaken your faith, until you don’t trust God anymore, and either you will feel alone in your travail, or you will look elsewhere for hope and strength.
My question for you is, what kind of doubt have you been experiencing?
Next week I want to look at ways to fight the debilitating power of doubt.
