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DOUBTING THE DOUBTS!
“When you ‘taste’ doubt, you taste chaos but when you ‘taste’ faith, you taste cosmos”
is a juicy one-liner which adorns sermons revolving around faith, preached with much gusto
by a many a preacher, the world over. Nothing wrong about it, of course! But in this world,
at a time both at general as well at personal levels, when things begin to drift from ideal
to unpleasant, do not doubts creep
into our minds? Firstly, let’s consider the ‘general’ problem.
When we see natural calamities snuffing out lives, when we see epidemics sending many to a premature
grave, when we see blood being shed all in the name of ‘holy war’, do not disturbing questions
arise in our minds? Is the powerful and just God in control?
Then again at personal level, when we are beset by problems like unexpected bereavement in the family,
loss of health, financial upheavals…all these despite our faithfulness to Him…do not legitimate doubts
crop up about God’s ‘goodness’ in our minds. Yes, they do with unfailing regularity.
Now is it wrong to have doubts? To be more blunt, is it a sin to have ‘doubts’?
What about heroes’ of faith? Were they also plagued by doubts from time to time?
The answer is an emphatic…YES! No less a person, who was certified by Lord Jesus
himself as ‘Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet’ …yes,
I am speaking about John the Baptist…in turbulent times, had doubts. And why not? For
nearly a year till then, this child of nature, who had always lived in the wide-open spaces,
with the clean wind on his face and the spacious vault of the sky for his roof, was languishing
in a dark, stifling dungeon. The fact that his constricting cell was in an old fort at a place
called Machaerus – a hot and desolate region- located fifteen miles (refer Map I in New Testament Section of Maps) of south of the northern end of the Dead Sea,
compounded his woes on the physical front. Added to this was a prickly, discouraging thought ‘Is this the
reward for my arduous labour for the Lord?” Then what about the unfulfilled (?)
Messianic prophecies of deliverance of prisoners
(Isaiah 61:1)! No wonder, all these factors working in
unison cast a shadow on his radiant faith. His faith, which all along had been like the noonday sun,
shining in all its glory was covered albeit temporarily by dark clouds of doubt. And his response in
this defining moment? HE TOOK HIS DOUBTS TO THE RIGHT PERSON
(Luke 7:19)! YES, TO JESUS HIMSELF!!
Oh what an action, worthy of emulation, offering direction to many a believer shaken in faith and
immersed in doubts!!!
What was Jesus’ response to the doubts of the person, who not long ago had publicly proclaimed
Him to be the Messiah? A stingy accusation for a spiritual flip-flop? No, one of quick response
to reinstate faith, just as a caring Doctor would immediate promptly administer first aid to a
bleeding patient. Luke reports that at that very time
(Luke 7:21), Jesus performed many miracles
right in front of John’s disciples, in order they go and report to John, that Messiah was going about
the “Father’s business in right earnest”. Yes, towards the end of his reply to the question posed by John,
there was a tender warning in Jesus’ words, not to intimidate but to intimate his deep care for
John’s spiritual life and his awaiting heavenly rewards. Later events in John’s life would
prove that his faith was revived on hearing the Master’s message to him.
Otherwise, to his disciples with whom he was in contact even while being in the prison, he wouldn’t
have conveyed till the very end of his life that Jesus was the most important person in his life.
No wonder, after his death, the very first person, whom John’s disciples’ sought to convey the
news was that VIP in his life…JESUS
(Matt 14:12)! In that entire account from
Luke 7:18-23 and beyond,
we see John the Baptist being actually set free from chains…not the physical chains,
which at best or worst, could harm him bodily but from far more damaging chains… the ones of doubt
engulfing his spirit.
John the Baptist’s way of handling of his doubts, if anything, strongly underscores the fact
that while it is not a sin to have doubts we need to, more importantly, go to the right person with
our doubts, because at that critical juncture one wrong step (going to the wrong person)
would undermine all the diligent efforts of the years gone by. The bucketfuls of sweat shed
hitherto in pursuance of the Master’s goal, would now doubtless go in vain!
What to do when, the Master is physically absent…as is the case now…some may ask?
The answer is not far to seek! One needn’t go beyond 73rd Psalm to zero in on the answer.
The Psalmist, we observe, in this Psalm is in a deeper quandary when compared to John the Baptist.
While John’s doubts primarily revolved around the delay in the release of Messianic power to
set free the prisoners, it may not have much to do with the prosperity of the wicked. But Psalmist’s
problems ran deeper. Not only was he perplexed by his inexplicable poverty (despite his steadfast faith)
but to make matters worse…. the carefree, luxurious life style of the wicked confounded him!!!
We can well identify with his sentiments. It is one thing for us to suffer long without any proper cause
(like in the case of John the Baptist) and it is quite another thing for us to see the unrighteous roll
in the riches, despite their ungodly lifestyle. Now this was doubt with a capital D for our Psalmist too!
No wonder beginning with verse 3 leading up to 14th verse, we see him resembling a boxer down for a count,
writhing in the canvas, with the looming figure of his adversary …Mr Doubt…close at hand, peering over him.
Then comes an amazing turnabout, by the time that Psalm ends, again we see him resembling a boxer
slowly getting back not only to his feet…but knocking out his opponent …Mr. Doubt cold …and finally
putting his hands up in triumph…proclaiming God’s goodness. How was he able to do that?
BY FIRST ENTERING AND PRAYING IN THE SANCTUARY declares verse 17. From there begins, a radical transformation,
in his thought process culminating in the victory over his formidable foe…Mr Doubt.
A closer look at the verses 18-20 would reveal that his eventual victory had everything to do
with God’s new revelation to him, about the eventual future of the wicked. So what if,
our Lord is not there physically amongst us in the year 2007, can’t we carry our deepest doubts,
anxieties, and worries to Him with moaning and groaning with the help of His own spirit
(Romans 8:26)?
It isn’t a sin to moan expressing our doubts. How many of us would care
to know that ‘moaning psalms’ far outnumber those of ‘praise’ in the Book of Psalms?
In this fallen world, where entire creation groans for release from suffering
(Romans 8:22)
caused by the fall in Eden, a visit to the labyrinth of doubts is inevitable for the child of
God at some time or the other. But the key to have in this quagmire symbolizing confusing situations
of life is the one that leads us through the maze (of doubts) to the …Master himself.
As somebody said Christianity is not all about ‘feel good factor’ but about yearning for
‘feel God factor’ even in times of…yes… doubts. For the moment we yearn for him and come to
His presence honestly even with our minds twisted in doubt like the John the Baptist or
73rd Psalmist, He is bound to set us free by making us ‘doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs’.
HALLELUJAH!
Yours in His service,
(Suresh Manoharan)
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