All of us struggle with the problem of Doubt, Famous writer / Author C. S. Lewis, who was an atheist before he was converted to Christianity, acknowledged that just as the Christian has his moments of doubt, so does the atheist. There is varying doubt across human beings.
There are a group of proud skeptical people who doubt in the existence of God they delight in their own intellect, these people (atheist) delight in upsetting the faith of weak believers. They set forth arguments against God’s existence or the Christian faith as if they are the first brilliant thinker in history to come up with such insights. The Bible dismisses such people as fools.
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” Psalms 14:1
People who call themselves believers also struggle with doubt, many times this doubt arises in difficult times. This has happened with disciples too. Once when the disciples were caught in a storm they doubted what will happen to them while Jesus was sleeping in the midst of the storm.
'Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. ' Matthew 8:24-26
When you read Luke 1:5-64, There is a lot to learn from Zechariah and how he doubted God’s word. There are many learnings which we can apply to our daily lives.
Just for ease of read I have given the selected verse from Luke 1, but to get a detailed view read Luke 1:5-64
'In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” ' Luke 1:5-7,11-15,18-20
If you read this passage, you will understand Zechariah was not willing to come to terms to himself as his hopes and fears had taken captive of him and he doubted the word of the angel.
What can Zechariah teach us about the problem of doubt?
Doubt is a problem, even for the righteous.
“Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly”. Being righteous in the sight of the Lord means that his godliness was not an outward show, like the “righteousness” of the Pharisees, but a matter of the heart. He walked with God and he did this for many years as the scripture tells they were old “they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old” , The fact that such a godly man doubted shows us that none are exempt from the problem.
Like Zechariah in the old testament Abraham and Sarah had similar situation like this where they had their moments of doubt. Sarah stumbled over a similar situation. When the Lord announced to Abraham that his wife would give birth to a son, she laughed in doubt. '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.” ' Genesis 18:12-14
So doubt is a problem, even for those who are righteous in God’s sight. If godly men like Zechariah , Abraham / Sarah fell into doubt, we should be on guard, so that we do not fall. Since even the godly have fallen, we may wonder, “What is the source of doubt?”, the doubt comes from our sinful heart.
Doubt comes from our sinful hearts.
Doubt does not stem from a lack of evidence, but from our sinful hearts.
I am sure some of you would have heard people say “if God showed up to them and talk they will believe”, but here, Zechariah had an angel suddenly appear and speak a direct revelation from God, but he did not believe, he doubted the word.
When you read Luke 1 and Genesis 18, there are three Godly (Zechariah / Mary and Sarah) people we need to compare to understand how our sinful heart doubts God’s promise.
Sarah’s doubts about the promise from God directly. 'So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” ' Genesis 18:12,15
Zechariah doubted when he was told by an angel 'Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” ' Luke 1:18
Like wise Mary also asks the angel a question 'But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ' Luke 1:30,34
You may wonder, “How does Zechariah’ question differ from Mary’s question (Luke 1:34)?” When the angel told her that she would become pregnant with Jesus, she asked, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel did not confront her for doubting. Abraham laughed and brought up the matter of his and Sarah’s old age when he was promised a son, but he was not corrected for doubting, while Sarah was (Gen. 17:17). But Zechariah asked the angel for a sign, and was rebuked for his doubting. Why these differences?
God, who sees the hidden secrets of each person’s heart, Zechariah’s doubt was different from Abraham or Mary. Zechariah was seeing from his human nature that in old age he cannot have child and made a firm belief it’s not possible. Zechariah was a righteous person, I am sure he was praying for this to the Lord for many years and given that nothing had happened for all these years his heart did not have the faith on God. He failed to look from the possibilities of God which the angel reminded him 'The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ' Luke 1:19
This is true to us as well, we may have walked with God for many years and we may face an impossible situation. We need to look to our hearts, which are prone to limit the Almighty by human possibilities. God has given us abundant evidence in Scripture that He is the God of the impossible. Nothing is too difficult for Him. The source of our doubts is not a lack of evidence. It is rather our, sinful hearts.
Doubt is connected to long term trials and disappointments
We don’t know how long Zechariah and Elizabeth had been married, but it easily could have been 30 or 40 years. In that society, being childless was a matter of disappointment, that to for these many years. I am sure they had asked God to give them a child and take away their disappointment, but God did not answer. Now that they were physically too old to have children, they had come to terms with their disappointment. They had concluded that it must not be God’s will. So when the angel suddenly announced that they would have a child, Zechariah doubted.
I am sure each of us have similar experiences like Zechariah, You prayed for something so long and your request was denied for so long that you concluded, “It isn’t going to happen.” Then, maybe even after you stopped praying, suddenly there was a glimpse of hope that your prayers were about to be answered. But you doubted on this situation to say “Let’s wait and see.” But in your heart, you were doubting God.
Thankfully, God in his grace often pours out his blessings in spite of our doubts! That was the case with Zechariah. God lovingly disciplined his servant, but Zechariah’s doubt could not prevent the sovereign plan of God. Part of the solution to our doubts is to understand the source of them. We’re all prone to doubts because of our sinful hearts, often coupled with disappointments and trials.
In the case of Zechariah, the angel struck Zechariah dumb and apparently deaf ('Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ' Luke 1:62). By doubting God’s ambassador, he was doubting God Himself. God took that seriously. As a loving Father, He taught his erring child a lesson he would never forget.
Thankfully, doubt was not fatal. We can recover if we will submit to God’s gracious discipline. During his months of silence, Zechariah submitted to God by meditating on his word and being thankful for his faithfulness in fulfilling his gracious promises. This is evident from the stream of praise that gushes forth when he finally has his speech restored (Luke 1:68-79). It is loaded with references to Scripture and how God has fulfilled His promises. If Zechariah had spent those silent months grumbling about how unfair God was to strike him deaf and dumb, he wouldn’t have erupted in praise as he did.
The solution for doubt
The solution for doubt is to see that “God will do what he says he will do”. We often miss to understand his will as we are so much preoccupied on the problem and the solution. Due to which we often miss to understand the will of God, For some this miss can be few days to years where we fail to see what God is saying to us, this leading to a doubt if we would ever get answer from God.
Some times we want the answer to what we ask as per our terms, where God may be willing to show a different way but we fail to accept the alternate and doubt every action of God.
The solution for doubt is
Pray God to show God’s view of how he sees the problem, instead of your view of the problem, there is a big difference in this. Many times we may be praying for the problem from our view, but the problem could be because there is a sin in our life that may prevent God to answer our prayers. Once we ask God to show his view we can take action and act according to his will, this can prevent the situation of doubt in our prayers.
Many times God will answer only at the right time, it may not be the time we want, his time is never too late. We need to wait patiently. What we typically do is, instead of waiting on the Lord we take actions as if we are more powerful than God and doubt God for his answers.
Humble yourself to God and not try to do like the atheist to show your strength to God, he will do mighty things if you trust and stay humble to him. 'Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. '1 Peter 5:6
Next time when you doubt on the prayer that you prayed for so long or sceptical on if God will answer, ask God to show his view of the problem instead of your view, this will clear the doubt and remove the doubts you have and strength the faith in Lord.
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