The Paradox of Doubt in Faith

In our spiritual journey, doubt often appears as an unwelcome guest, suggesting a lack of faith. Yet, what if I told you that doubt, when embraced, can lead us to a deeper, more authentic relationship with God? Today, we explore at the beginning of three part post on how doubt is not just a challenge to overcome but a critical component of our faith's growth.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who kept throwing doubt into the mix? 

It can happen in the slightest ways. One time I was meeting another pastor and his wife for lunch. I knew the pastor pretty well, but never had the chance to meet his wife. Throughout the entire conversation there were junctures that she stated “If you said this, then I wasn’t going to believe you!” 

They were in the most odd parts of our conversation, like if I said that there were some days I had the blues. Or some other little detail that you don’t usually question a person about. 

Do you really like coffee? Or do you really never shop at Walmart? 

That day it was like acid eating away at the freshly spawned common ground that I hoped to create with a fellow pastor and his wife in the trenches of ministry. 

That conversation has stayed with me over the years because I realized how eroding the nature of doubt is in the cohesion of conversation and connection. 

Yet doubt is a key component of life, of the human experience, and whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the formation of our Spiritual understandings and underpinning of faith. Doubt, as we see, is not an antithesis to faith but a part of the human experience, pushing us toward a deeper understanding of our beliefs.

In the witness of John the Baptist, from his prison cell, expressing doubt about Jesus' messiahship. This moment is pivotal, showing that doubt is not a marker of failure but a step towards greater faith and understanding.

2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Matthew 11:2-6

Please, realize and see doubt not as a weakness but as an opportunity for growth. It's a call to walk with God through our seasons of doubt, finding comfort in knowing that our doubts do not disqualify us from His love or our community of faith.

Consider it actually as a season where God is trusting you to live with the questions so that in his goodness and timing, he can reveal the answers to you in perhaps a new frame of mind or maturing that needed to endure such a time of doubt.

Next post, we will be talking about navigating doubt through it's 3 primary derailments.

Keep Looking Up,

Pastor Micah