God Can Use Your Doubt

“Be merciful to those who doubt.”
Jude 1:22 (NIV)

Don’t settle for internal contradiction because you fear whether Jesus can deal with or minister to your doubts. I’m here to tell you, He’ll step into your doubt and prove to you that He is as powerful as you suspect He is. He’ll prove to you that He can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think. And He wants to.

He’s letting doubts raise questions in your life that only He can answer. He’s letting doubts object to things in your life that only His sovereignty can overrule. The Lord is letting your doubts walk you into places and spaces where you never thought Jesus would meet you. And the Lord knows that when you get there, the doubt He ministers to will eventuate in the deepening of your spiritual conviction.

One of my favorite authors, Brian McLaren, says, “Doubt is like a spiritual drought, a starless night of the soul, a low tide when faith seems to have retreated forever. Nearly all of us experience these dry, dark, difficult times when God doesn’t seem real and it’s hard to keep going, much less growing. Sometimes these low tides of faith are connected with events … the death of a loved one, a broken relationship, the loss of a job, a prolonged illness, questions raised by a book or professor. But sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere; it’s sunny and bright outside, but inside you feel dark, cloudy, gray, empty.”

McLaren continues, “As a pastor, I have to deal with matters of faith and doubt on a daily basis. But it’s not just other people’s faith struggles I have to face; I experience my own high and low tides of faith even in the midst of an active ministry. Through it all I have learned that doubt can be a doorway to spiritual growth.”

Don’t surrender to internal contradictions because you feel you can’t own your faith and your doubts at the same time. Let doubt be a catalyst that moves you closer to Jesus.