Doubting With Conviction
WRITTEN BY DREW MATZ
How to Doubt Better
Contrary to what you may have heard, doubt is something that many Christians struggle with. For some, it comes in seasons that draw us into times of drawn-out contemplation and questions. For others, it is always lingering in the back of their mind, coming forward in the most inconvenient ways. These lingering questions can manifest in bouts of depression or anxiety. We can become paralyzed and complacent with our situation as we call into question our entire worldview and the beliefs and values that are interwoven. It can place stress on relationships and create uncertainty in multiple aspects of our lives.
While it is true that our difficulty with faith begins from the damage of sin in our nature, seasons spent in the wilderness of doubt can be spiritually beneficial for us - if we know how to approach it so that we can channel our doubts into positive growth and understanding. Therefore, we must become convicted in our doubts, holding our own feet to the fire so that we can refine our doubts and learn how to address them realistically and beneficially. Think of it as a dragon that must be taken down. Facing the dragon will require strategy and courage. It will require us to face our fears head on with nowhere to run. But having slain the beast, we will have grown tremendously in our confidence and we become battle-hardened to face future challenges.
Here are a few practical pieces of advice for enduring your season in the wilderness:
Understand what you believe.
Sometimes our questions linger because we don’t have an adequate understanding of what we believe, or how it applies to our lives. Developing clarity in our comprehension of our doctrine and values can help us to be precise in our questions and can make them easier to navigate.
Discern the nature of your doubt.
Although we all doubt for different reasons, we can boil the reasons down to two categories. Intellectual doubts stem from our minds seeking answers to questions. Is the Bible truly God’s word? Can we be confident that Jesus is who he says he was? These doubts arise in our mind and prompt us to search for answers that satisfy our rationality.
On the other hand, there are also existential doubts. These doubts arise from our emotions and concern the topics of meaning and purpose. What does God want me to do with my life? Why is God allowing me to suffer in this way? Being able to identify the nature of our doubts can help us to channel them towards finding answers.
Write down different versions of your question.
This exercise can help us to be punctual in what it is that is bothering us. Often, the first time we state a question it isn’t done with precision. Stating the question multiple times in different ways can help us to boil the question down to its simplest form, which will make the question much easier to explore and seek answers to.
These are only a few pieces of advice to begin doubting in a better and more productive way. We must remember that God condescends to us and is able to meet us where we are. He provides the light in the darkness of life to walk us through our doubts. He invites Thomas to examine his wounds because he longs for us to place our faith and trust in him. Our Lord assures us that the faith of a mustard seed is enough to work with. Thus, as we learn to pray, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief,” he will gladly see us through our times of wandering (Mark 9:24) and lead us to salvation.
