It's natural. It's in our hearts. It's part of our nature and it's whispered in our ear by Satan. It can plant seeds and create a web of destructive vines that seem impossible to prune. Doubt is real. And it can be devastating to our soul.
So many times, it seems so hard to truly understand some truths about God and, if we let it, that can spin into doubt:
God's unwavering love for his children. Even the ones who seem wildly undeserving (newsflash: that's all of us) and need to be chased down through their foolish pride (including yours truly)...why is this so hard to grasp? Because our human, imperfect love is a dimmed, circumstantial, impatient love in light of His.
God's fulfilled and future promises. He took on flesh. He was a human here on earth, where His life, persecution and resurrection fulfilled each and every prosphesy breathed out by God. He embodied perfect holiness and performed miracles and was so selfless to lay His own life down and suffer - so horrendously - for us. Eternal life. What? How can I even begin to grasp that. And new heavens and earth: Like more beautiful than (insert your most beautiful place on this current earth)? More vibrant colors, better smells, no disease, decay or death? No sadness or worry? How?
God's sovereign, creative capabilities. Through time we have had smart - incredibly smart - individuals seeking to define how and why we are here and we like to pretend we have all the answers. While it is wonderful to seek them, and even more wonderful to marvel in God's capabilities in light of them, when we seek answers that factor out God, we are dishonoring Him, discrediting Him and sometimes those theories are what stick. Why? Because of doubt.
While I could go on, I am going to stop on this one right above. This is one that personally gets my brain going: one of the most marvelous things for me to think about is how God created the earth and Genesis being an account of that. I know this is a tough one for people (including me) to wrap their heads around because there have been many theories posed by unbelievers that try factor God out of it. While I don't have the answer, I do know this: We are imperfect. We don't have all the answers. We have theories and our grasp on this world is still rooted in theory opposed to complete certainty because we have to make a leap from the evidence that is revealed to conclusion - all theories of how our world works require some level of faith (whether it points toward and away from our Creator). Science, while we have learned so very much through it, can be imperfect. We are still learning and growing; doctors and scientists still make mistakes and misdiagnose, seeing through a lens created by their own perspective influenced by their surroundings, education, mentors, personal motives, etc.
And to get more specific, Darwinists see what they want to see. Those who still cling to that notion (which tries to factor out God), ignore recent findings about Miller’s lab and the Cambrian explosion; both of which discredit the theory that we all evolved from one single cell and arrived where we are by mere chance. Did you know that Darwinism has been discredited on multiple levels and more recent science actually points toward an intelligent creator**? Did you know that, science looked at through a lens of a creator actually makes sense with God as the cause of all things? This isn't a perspective that claims science OR God. It's science in light of God. It's fascinating to learn about and it makes me so awe-stricken with God.
There is so much about God and creation that is inconceivable. And IT'S OKAY. We weren't made to completely wrap our heads around every promise, characteristic and fact about God. We have finite (albeit incredible) brains. We weren't made to have irrefutable proof - if He wanted us to have it, we would. We were, though, made to have faith. Faith closes that gap. God has revealed very specific things to us. We should take those things and let them light up our soul; use those things to give us energy to seek more revelation: through His word, through prayer, through His work in our own and others' lives.
And if you have doubt...well you are pretty much doomed and you should bury that deep down. Like never tell anyone.... ;) No silly goose (sometimes the mommy-language spills out), when you have doubt, turn to His word to reinforce your faith in Him. Don't ignore doubt, but also don't feed it. He is our daily bread. He will satisfy. It's up to us to always turn back so that His perfect truth can pluck the seed of doubt before it grows roots.
All of this to say, at the end of the day, Jesus calls us to believe in Him. And blessed are those who do.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
(John 20:29)
I will leave you with this quote from a wonderful Bible study I finished recently:
"I don't question God because I want to prove He doesn't exist. I question because I want to rest in unshakable faith....I believe Jesus says to each of us, 'You may not get the evidence you say you need to believe Me, but rest assured, love, I'll give you enough.'"
Angie Smith, Seamless.
**To read more on how to see origins of the earth through a lens that in fact points to a Creator, The Case for a Creator is fantastic!
Also, some fascinating historical evidence that points to how our world was shaped by Genesis, Is Genesis History? is a fantastic film available on Netflix.