How can we overcome doubt in God’s Word?  

Author: BibleAsk Team


Struggling With Doubt  

Many, especially those who are young in the Christian experience, are at times troubled with doubt in God’s Word. Satan attacks them with confusing thoughts to shake their faith. The truth is that God never asks us to believe, without giving us enough evidence to build our faith on. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all confirmed by abundant proofs that appeal to our reason. Those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith. While “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God,” “those things which are revealed belong unto us” (Deuteronomy 29:29).  

It is impossible for limited minds to fully understand the character or the works of the Almighty (Job 11:7, 8; Romans 11:33). The apostle Peter says that there are in Scripture “things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest … unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). While, Satan works to pervert the reasoning powers of the mind and places doubt in the mind, we can be assured that God will help us understand His Word for in Him are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).  

Man-Made Theories

Many doctrines popularly believed to be from the Bible are in fact contrary to its teachings such as the false teachings of eternal hell fire, the abolishing of God’s moral law, and the immortality of man. These have caused doubt and confusion to many. However, they are not, supported by God’s word, but by man’s distortion of it.   

God desires man to use his reasoning powers; and the study of the Bible will strengthen and elevate his mind as no other study can.  Yet, we are to beware of man-made theories, which are not inspired by God (Colossians 2:8). We must with the simplicity and faith of a little child, be willing to learn (Matthew 18: 3), and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). With humility, we should open God’s word, and enter His presence with holy awe (James 4:10).  

The Holy Spirit Guides to All the Truth  

Christ promised, “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth…. For He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:13, 14).  We can attain an understanding of God’s word only through the illumination of that Spirit by which the word was given. “The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God;” “for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11, 10).   

But in order to arrive at truth, we must have a sincere desire to know the truth and a willingness of heart to obey it. As we come in this spirit to the study the Bible, we will find abundant evidence that it is God’s word, and we will gain an understanding of its truths. Christ said, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine” (John 7:17). 

“Let Us Reason Together”  

Like a He Father, the Lord invites us to meet with Him for a free and frank discussion, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). The Lord is reasonable, and wants humans to realize that it is to their advantage to repent of sin and to walk in the light and discover the benefits of obedience and the woes of breaking God’s laws (Ezekiel 33:11).

The Lord God calls us to try His word and His promises and invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Instead of depending upon the word of another, we are to taste for ourselves. He declares, “Ask, and ye shall receive” (John 16:24). The Christian life is a life of real victory and success. The apostle Paul says that God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). And everyone who has passed from death unto life is able to “set to his seal that God is true” (John 3:33).   

In His service,
BibleAsk Team 

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