Doubt can be discouraging to the believer. Today we’ll look at a few examples of those with great faith in the Bible and what they have in common with us today.

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Paradoxes are fascinating. What’s more mind-blowing than two seemingly contradictory but true things?

If you’ve been a Christian long at all, you’re probably familiar with the concept. Practically everything we believe is a paradox in some form:

No one comes to the Father unless called, and the Son will not lose any the Father has given Him, yet God preserves our free will.

We are weak but strong in Christ.

Sinner and saint.

The least is greatest.

God’s will and plan will be accomplished, yet we’re instructed to pray and told that we have not because we ask not.

Servant leadership.

One interesting, but frustrating, paradox is one we don’t talk about as much: doubt and faith. We rarely admit to having doubts, really. But they seem to always linger in the believer’s life.

We feel like bad Christians, wondering if there’s something wrong with us. Then we hide the doubt behind a strong façade of confidence—like we should have all the answers all the time.

Are we bad Christians when we Doubt?

As Christians, we could probably immediately think of several verses pertaining to doubt:

But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

James 1:6 NASB

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.

Matthew 21:21 NASB

And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Mark 4:39-40 NASB

There is even an entire chapter in Hebrews devoted to people of great faith. Scripture has a lot to say about faith, which makes sense considering eternity hinges on faith in Christ.

But what about doubt? Does doubt just disappear for the good Christian? Do we surrender to Christ and live “happily ever after” in our faith?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. Why do I still have doubts if I believe?

The result of my pondering has come in the form of names:

Like Gideon. His name is mentioned in Hebrews 11 with those of great faith. It might just be me, but Gideon seems like the last person I’d find in a list like that. The dude repeatedly asked God to show signs confirming what God had already told him.

Abraham demonstrated great faith when he trusted God to raise up Isaac even if he died, but before that, Abraham fathered a child outside God’s design and even laughed when God told him about Isaac’s future miraculous birth.

There are several others I could talk about, but the main one on my mind is John the Baptist. As the man chosen to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry, he showed a lot of faith. His life was a fulfillment of prophecy as the “voice calling out in the desert” to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry. And he was the first person to declare Jesus as the Messiah. In fact, when Jesus approached in the crowd, he recognized Jesus on sight: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

But John experienced great doubt, too. While in prison, he questioned everything he’d seen, so he sent disciples to Jesus to ask: Are you the Messiah or are we still waiting?

Jesus’s response to John is noteworthy. Instead of chiding John or replying with “Well, duh! You said so yourself!” Jesus instructs John’s messengers to report what they’d seen: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the sick are healed, the dumb speak, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor.

Jesus allows the evidence—His own fulfillment of the prophecies—to dispel John’s doubts.

So what can we learn from these examples?

Thoughts on Doubt in the Believer’s Life

#1 – There is a war raging inside us.

It can be easy to believe that the believer’s life is free of doubts, but, although our spirits are made new when we accept Christ, our bodies are not.

Our bodies are still imperfect, carnal carcasses that struggle with the spiritual. I look forward to the day that we all have perfect bodies that allow us to fully experience the goodness of God—without the doubt, fear, and guilt.

#2 – Doubt is a part of the believer’s life.

I came across an interesting quote while researching for this post: in summary, it says that doubt is an element of faith.

As I mentioned above, our carnal bodies hinder our walk with Christ; while we’re in them, doubt will never leave us. We can have times of great faith with little doubt or vice versa.

Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.

Paul Tillich

#3 – Doubt may not necessarily be a bad thing.

I suspect that God uses our times of doubt for our benefit. That seems like something He’d do, doesn’t it?

We ask questions.

God reminds us of all He’s done.

And our faith is strengthened overall.

#4 – Even in faith, we are dependent upon Jesus.

I can’t believe that I’ve gotten this far into a post about doubt without talking about the father who cried “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”

His plea comes to mind often—usually when I find myself struggling with questions or doubts. Two simple sentences that capture so much— and speaking of a paradox: I believe. Help my unbelief. This is the cry of every believer because even in our faith, we are dependent upon Christ.

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Are we bad Christians when we have doubts?

I don’t think so.

This is just one of the strange paradoxes in which God seems to excel. Doubts will be with us until these bodies crumble from around us, but they don’t have to be bad either. If we’re honest about our doubts and seek to answer them, God is faithful to reassure us of His faithfulness.

Do you struggle with doubts sometimes? What encourages you to persevere? Share in the comments below.

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More reading

• 14 Biblical Paradoxes Every Christian Should Know by Aaron Wilson at Lifeway Research
• Faith and Doubt (What You Need to Know About Doubting God) by Jeffery Curtis Poor at Rethink
• Blessed Assurance: 6 Reasons I Believe in Eternal Security from HISsparrowBlog

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I frequently link up with the following: Grace & Truth with Embracing the Unexpected, Tell His Story with Jeanne Takenaka, and Let’s Have Coffee with Joanne Viola.