Botton Line Up Front: But What About When I Doubt?

Introduction: When I met the woman who would become my wife, she worked with a lady who tried to always come across as unaffected by life. She was one of those Pollyannas who put on a smile even when things were falling apart. When you asked her how she was doing, even had she been bleeding out from her eyeballs, you’d get this automatic response: “Too blessed to be stressed.” Now I’m a nice guy, and I certainly believe in the importance of courtesy. But to go through life pretending that life cannot exact some serious tolls from us is unrealistic at best and dishonest at worst. Life can be hard. Very hard. And sufferings come to us all.

This coming week, for example, I have to preside over two funerals. That’s not unique in my lane. However, here’s what is unique. Both of those funerals are for men in the same family. Two deaths—within days of each other. Both were veterans. And I’m preaching both of their funerals. The survivors in that family, I assure you, are not comforted by “Too blessed to be stressed” bromides.

Where do you turn when we doubt? Where do we turn when life and death kick us in the teeth? Well, that reality is not without witness. Many have faced doubt and grief and sadness before. God is not silent on this issue in Scripture:

Psalm 143:4, 6 reads as follows: “Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.”

Psalm 143:7a-8a reads as follows: “Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.”

When we have doubts, we are part of a great cloud of witnesses who faced similar trials. We’re not alone. And God understands. When we doubt the goodness of God, remember the words from Isaiah: “For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not,” I am the one who helps you.”

When we doubt our faith, remember Paul’s words to Timothy: “But I received mercy because I had acted in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 1:13b-14).

Encouragement: We don’t need to go around like a mindless robot, spouting “Too blessed to be stressed.” That sort of shallowness won’t suffice when tragedy strikes. We need an anchor for the soul. God is that anchor. “I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure” (Ps 40:1-2b).