Defeating Dangerous Doubts

Bulletins

Brian Nielsen
12/03/23 - General

Sooner or later, we all will know.

Disbelief has been part of Satan's tools from the start of mankind when the serpent told Eve, "You will not surely die" in Genesis 3:4.

Sooner or later, we find out who God is. Sometimes it's with good signs. In Exodus 6:7, God told the Israelites, "I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."

This learning was not so pleasant for Judah as the God said in Ezekiel 33:29, "Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed."

These are just two of numerous passages where God said "you shall know that I am the LORD." (Exodus 16:12, for instance)

We cannot understand all of the troubles and temporary trials we see on earth. I don't know why a small child has cancer. God doesn't expect me to understand why good people suffer. As Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us, God's ways and thoughts are above ours. We can be thankful of that because God knew of a way to save us. If we discount parts of the Bible, we'd have to discount John 3:16 and the fact Jesus came to earth offering us the way of salvation.

Some measure of disbelief is just part of our imperfect human nature. Admitting this and asking for help is understood by Jesus as was the case for the man with the mute son. In Mark 9:24 we read, "Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’ " Jesus healed the son, and can help us as well if we ask Him. Even the apostles sought this. In Luke 17:5 we are told, "And the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith.' "

The term "Doubting Thomas" we use today comes from an event that had a happy ending. Jesus knew Thomas' doubts as we read in John 20:27-28, "Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.' And Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and My God!' "

Thomas' response was so much better than that of the priests and Sadducies unhappy with Peter and John preaching about Christ Jesus. In Acts 4:15-17 we read, "But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, 'What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name."

Don't stubbornly respond to undeniable facts in this way. We can see God's creation and we have the Bible with 40 different authors over more than 1,500 years all in agreement because their writings arenot their own but God-breathed. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Realize God is the Lord and you can accept Jesus Christ as your Savior rather than facing the other alternative in Revelation 21:8 -- "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolators, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Sooner or later, we all will know.

(Scripture quotes are from the NKJV)