Doubt: Febuary 17, 2010

February 17. TODAYS WORD FOR WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2010.

DOUBT

DEFINITION:

An unsettled state of opinion; indecision; a matter of uncertainty; an objection.

SCRIPTURE:

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” He said. Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord save me.” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” He said, “why do you doubt?” Matthew 14:27.

Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mark 16:14.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We all have our times of doubt. Even the disciples had their times of doubt. We usually think of Thomas as “doubting Thomas.” Peter, we know had great faith but in Matthew 14: 27-31 (above) we find that his faith wavered and he experienced doubt. After Jesus had fed the 5000 men, plus the women and children, He told His disciples to get in the boat and go before Him to the other side of the lake, while He was sending the multitudes on their way. Jesus then wanted some solitude so He went up to the mountain to pray.

When the disciples got to the middle of the sea, the wind came up and they were being tossed around by the waves. Jesus knew they were in trouble so He began to walk toward them on the waves. The disciples saw Jesus coming and they thought it was a ghost and they cried out with fear. Jesus then spoke to them saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” But all of them doubted that it was Jesus. Peter was the first to respond by saying, “Lord if it is You: command me to come to You on the water.”

Jesus answered Peter by saying, “COME.” Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water but the storm winds were boisterous and he was afraid and cried out to the Lord to save him. Peter stepped out in faith but when he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on his circumstance, being surrounded by pounding waves, he began to sink. He realized he needed help and cried out “Lord save me.”

At once Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him and said to him, “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” When our faith wavers because we are going through a storm in life and we are sinking in the waves, we need to take our eyes off of our circumstances and focus them on Jesus and ask for His help.

It is when our faith is weak that doubt creeps in. Satan loves to see believers doubt because it makes us more vulnerable to his temptations.

Sometimes we doubt God due to our own unfulfilled expectations. The disciples had watched Jesus die on the cross. They had seen His body placed in the tomb. Now all their hopes were dashed. They did not understand why He had to die. We read in Luke 24:21 that at least some of the disciples had hoped that Jesus was going to rescue the nation of Israel from their enemies and the oppressive rule of the Romans.

Some even thought that God would intervene and that Jesus would not really die. These followers of Jesus doubted because their expectations were not met. All eleven of the disciples had doubts that Jesus had really risen from the dead. It was only when Jesus actually appeared to them that they would truly believe. Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith and for doubting those who told them that they had seen Jesus after He was risen.

It is not uncommon for people to pray for something and then doubt God because He did not answer their prayers to meet their expectations. Have you ever doubted the Lord? Do you have a “doubt” problem in your everyday living?

Possibly your doubt comes because of frustration. In Exodus 5:22-23, we read about Moses doubt that came out of frustration. Moses told God of his doubt asking, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”

Moses doubted why God had called on him to go to Pharaoh because not only could he not see any results in getting Pharaoh to free the Hebrews but Pharaoh was making their lives harder. Like Moses we are impatient and when we do not see fast results we doubt if God is even hearing our prayers. God in His perfect time will respond if we keep our faith strong and do not doubt.

God responded to Moses by saying to him, “I am the Lord.” God told Moses to wait and see what I will do to Pharaoh. He will let them go and will drive the people out of the land. God had to remind Moses of His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the covenant He had with the Children of Israel. Moses showed his doubt at a time of frustration because he wasn’t seeing any results for his efforts.

We need to daily, “Cast your burden on the Lord and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55: 22.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for today is found in Ephesians 2: 8-9.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

PRAYER:

Help me not to doubt who You are and that You are my God and my Savior. Help me not to doubt that You are with me every moment of every day. I pray that You would help me to strengthen my faith in You and let me walk close to You.