Doubting God

It is obvious that as created beings we will never be able to understand all of God's ways because they are far above and beyond us. That is where trust comes in. When we have come to know God, we can trust that God is good, wise and in full control of everything, even when we cannot figure out what is happening or see where it is going. Questioning these aspects of God's character, His goodness, love, power and wisdom, is a mark of not knowing God for who He is. It is a mark of immaturity if we imagine we have valid reason to question God. Then we don't know God as God, and our knowledge is very limited. So, if we have questions or doubts about God, what we must be looking at is how much we know Him and how much we trust Him.

Imagine we are feeling anxious, not knowing what is going to happen or what we are going to do. On one side, we are anxious because we are uncertain about ourselves or because we are aware of our limitations. But then we have the privilege of leaning on God and not on ourselves. With God there are no limitations. He knows exactly what is to be done, and He is well able to do it (Ps.115:3). When we transfer in our mind our attention from looking at our limitations to looking at Almighty God who is our Father, anxiety cannot remain any more in our mind. He has promised never to abandon us (He.13:5). By faith we can leave the matter to Him and stop worrying. If we still worry, it shows that we are not looking at God but our own limitations (Mt.14:30).

Let us learn a little more by looking at an example. Suppose we are anxious wondering if we are going to be healed from some sickness. We know Jesus is able to heal us, but we don't know if He will, and we know many cases where He has not healed! Then, if we are able to leave the decision to Him by faith, believing that He knows best, He is able to do whatever He wants, then we overcome anxiety. That is what the three Hebrew men showed when they were threatened to be thrown into the fire. They knew God could take them out of the fire, but they did not know if that was God's plan at that time. But when they left that decision to God, they overcame anxiety, and became bold before the king (Da.3:16-18).

If we cannot know the outcome in a situation, or what happens is not what we expected, faith is our answer for overcoming doubts about God. If we hold on to our need for certainty of knowledge, and we can't have that, can we afford to put the blame on God, doubt His goodness, wisdom or power? We dare not! We are dealing with God who always knows best and who is always powerful to do whatever He wants, and we puny people must not sin against Him by doubting Him. Especially when we know God as One who has demonstrated His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son, we must not dare to cast doubts about His character or the reliability of His promises.

The problem is, many do not know God as God, but they think of Him as if He was just like them (Ps.50:21).