Help My Unbelief!

Have you ever cried out to God, "I believe, help my unbelief!"?  I think we all have at some time or another.  As I pondered this very Scripture prayer, I was led to several areas of God's word where I found insights for overcoming doubts about God and how to believe Him in all things.

Help My Unbelief!  Am I a Doubter or a Believer?

When I was a little girl, I attended Sunday School which was held in the school next door to our church.  The Sunday School class was held either before or after the service my parents attended.  As a result, my dad would drop me off, go home and then come back and pick me up when Sunday School was over.

This arrangement struck fear in me, an unfounded fear, but a fear none-the-less; one that built up to a crescendo as I waited for my dad to come back to pick me up at the end of Sunday School class.  My father had NEVER once been a "no-show" and NEVER gave me any reason to doubt that he would not come back to pick me up.  Yet every week I allowed doubts and fears to creep in until relief washed over me the moment I spotted my dad.

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It is the LORD who goes before you.

 He will be with you;

 he will not leave you or forsake you. 

Do not fear or be dismayed.

Deuteronomy 31:8

How often do I as a Believer do anything but believe.  There are days that I think, why am I calling myself a Believer; the more accurate moniker would be Doubter.  

Maybe you can relate to this as well.  We certainly have examples of Doubters from prominent characters of the Bible!

1.  Thomas, who earned the name Doubting Thomas, doubted Jesus was resurrected...

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:24-29

2.  Gideon tested God not once but twice because he doubted that the Lord would go with him to save Israel out of Midian's hand...

 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.  Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return...

 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—  look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Judges 6:14-18;36-40

Sarah and Abraham laughed at God's promise that they would conceive a son in their old age, doubting God and believing instead that their old age would not permit this ...

Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. […]

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” 

Genesis 17:17-22, 18:10-15

And what about the disciples who saw Jesus feed the multitudes and then when a similar situation arose at another time they doubted how they could possibly feed that many people.

 Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may faint along the way.” The disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place can we find enough bread to feed” such a large crowd? 

Matthew 15:32-33

Or the Israelites, who doubted God's plan to bring them up out of Egypt.

The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."   

Exodus 16:3

But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"

Exodus 17:3

In every example above, our Heavenly Father proved Himself faithful over and over again.  

Just like my own father had every time he came back to pick me up from Sunday School...

So why the doubting??

We ALL seem to have short memories concerning the great things God has already done for us...

And, apparently, difficulty believing God's great promises of what He will do for us...

Help My Unbelief!  I Want to Believe!

What can we do to truly live as Believers in Christ?

First and foremost we can pray.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to constantly bring to our remembrance who God is and who we are in and to Him...

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, 

he gave the right to become children of God—

John 1:12

He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ,

 in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Epheisans 1:5

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Peter 2:9

To spend time in the Word, saturated in the knowledge of our Great Savior and Lord, so that doubts could not possibly crowd out the Truth of God's love and faithfulness.

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

Jeremiah 31:3

To walk obediently, not allowing the sin of doubt and lack of Faith in God to misdirect our focus inward, but instead to only look to Christ Jesus in full believing Trust.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Our name Believer shows the world that we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for our personal sins, rose again and in so doing, has secured our Salvation in Heaven.

But when non-Believers and Believers see us doubting, in any given situation, doesn't that essentially appear to cancel out our whole belief system in the One who saves?...  What happens then to our testimony?

Sobering words, aren't they?...

I realize in these sinful bodies, there will be times of doubting.  

Help My Unbelief!  Choose to Believe

But it is my hope that we will be more mindful of what doubting does to our testimony of God's faithfulness, and will be encouraged to uphold the name Believer in our daily thoughts and actions, bringing God Glory and showcasing the power of His death and resurrection...

When we receive news of a difficult diagnosis - choose to Believe God and His loving plan

When we have a loved one in the throws of addiction - choose to Believe God and His loving plan

When we suffer a miscarriage - choose to Believe God and His loving plan

When we find ourselves in a broken marriage - choose to Believe God and His loving plan

When we have a wayward child - choose to Believe God and His loving plan

When we lose our job - choose to Believe God and His loving plan

When the unthinkable happens - choose to Believe God and His loving plan

For related posts, please click on the following:

Believing the Unseen

You are Out of Your Mind!

7 Powerful Truths to Remember When You Doubt God

Trust in the One who Saves in ALL Circumstances

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

For similar posts, click on the following:

6 Absolute Truths to Remember When Your Faith is Shaken

Believing the Unseen

7 Powerful Truths to Remember When You Doubt God

How to Overcome a Struggling Faith

3 Effective Ways Christians Can Overcome Doubt

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