Doubt Much?!

Who doesn’t?!

As humans, it’s not abnormal to find yourself in moments or even seasons of doubt. Yet, for most, there’s a lot of shame, guilt, and anxiety in moments of doubt that can cause us to misinterpret what it is and what it’s trying to communicate to us. But, WHAT IF doubt is an invitation to get rooted in your beliefs?! WHAT IF your doubt is simply asking you, “What do you believe?!” WHAT IF the waves of your doubt was giving you the chance to be anchored in the Lord?!

WHAT IF?!

I get it, if you experience doubt, it is not something that feels like an open invitation. Not. Of. Any Kind. And in fact, it feels more like a roller coaster because some days you’re UP and the next, you’re down. One day you believe in yourself, the next day you don’t. One day you feel called by the Lord, the next day you’re down playing yourself and everything you’ve ever done – all gone, out the window. One day, God is good and the next you day you question his goodness. Up, down, up, down. 

The Bible speaks to this in the book of James chapter 1, verse 6: “For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind” (CSB). The effects of doubt are legit. Here, there, and everywhere. 

Good news is, you know when you’re doubting because the effects are obvious. 

Bad news is, you don’t know how to get off the roller coaster.

What about you? Do you feel the effects of doubt in your life? 

Are you up one minute and down the next?

Do you feel called one moment and then not equipped the next?

Do you sense God’s goodness in one moment only to be triggered by missed expectations and you begin to doubt his goodness? 

This. Is. Your. Invitation. 

Doubt Much?

To fully understand the meaning of the word “doubt,” it’s helpful to know what it is and what it’s not, by definition. 

By definition, it is NOT “fear.” Fear is an intense emotion aroused by the detection of imminent threat. Another way of saying this is fear is decided. “I’m afraid, period.” 

That’s like me with sharks. I am decided that I am afraid of sharks. And no matter what you tell me, I am afraid. I walk in fear.

This fear causes me to go only chest deep in the ocean, even though I LOVE the ocean. This fear causes me to hear the Jaws song when I’m swimming in a pool yall. This fear causes me to not watch shark movies. Afraid. 

And even though you could tell me more pig attacks and dog attacks kill people than actual shark attacks, I’d stand before a pig or a dog all day long. EVEN THOUGH the fact of the matter states that I am in more danger of doing so, my fear is already decided. 

Fear is decided belief.

Doubt, on the other hand is undecided belief. If we continue to look at James 1:6 in a different translation, we see it’s truth on this: “For the ambivalent person believes one moment and doubts the next. Being undecided makes you become like the rough seas driven and tossed by the wind. You’re up one minute and tossed down the next” (TPT). 

Doubt is undecided belief. 

It’s basically saying, “What do I believe?”

Hence the opportunity it provides. 

Doubt is par for the course. So it’s never about IF you will experience doubt, it’s a matter of WHAT you will do with it. 

Scripture speaks to our process here. If we look at verse 5, here is what we find: “And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace.” This is it!! When we are in a place of “I don’t know what I believe here” (doubt), we are invited to seek God’s wisdom. 

There’s no questions asked, if we’re not careful, our place of doubt becomes our permanent place of fear. You see it time and time again. But it could also be the building place of divine wisdom in which the Lord WANTS to impart his realities into us. He doesn’t scold your doubt, he wraps his generous grace around it. Why? So that “You ask empowered by confident faith without doubting that you will receive” (James 1:6 TPT). He wants you to take your doubt to him so he can wrap his generous grace around it, giving you HIS perspective, HIS belief system so that you can walk empowered by his reality and ask for his will, his way, his time over the things you are facing that he might impart to you answers! He wants you to receive from him, but he cannot do it when you are in a palace of doubt. 

He wants you to take your place of doubt and to become rooted and anchored in him.

When you are rooted and anchored in him, he can give you all that he wants to give you. 

If you doubt, how can he give you anything? He can’t. 

And that’s not on him, that’s on you. 

A doubting heart is a half-hearted heart and it will make you unstable. 

An unstable woman and man cannot hold the revelations of heaven. 

You’ve got to get your heart centered on him first, not just the answer. 

You’ve got to get your heart in alignment with his. 

Then, he can give you what you’ve been asking because you’ve taken a heart of doubt and been transformed into a heart of faith and it’s in your faith that he is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than you could ever think or imagine and that’s not because you did it perfect, but because he is perfect. 

Your place of doubt is an opportunity to dig deep wells of belief in him. 

Sure, it can cause you to not believe. It can cause you to decide that he is not faithful. It can get you to determine that the pain is too much. You can become decided to not believe. 

OR, you can take your doubt, run towards him, dive into his wisdom (not google, social media, or even the opinions of those around you), and as scripture says, “He will give it to you!” 

Let doubt anchor you into the Lord. Let it build heavenly belief systems that are unshakeable. May the areas where the enemy is trying to get you distracted and off course be the impetus for a faithful, grounded, anchored heart who trusts in God and God alone. 

And may “your faith remain strong, even while surrounded by life’s difficulties!” I pray “you will continue to experience the untold blessings of God! True happiness comes as you pass the test with faith, and receive the victorious crown of life promised to every lover of God” James 1:12 (TPT). 

Take your doubt and anchor in. 

Dive into his wisdom. 

And may his truth cause you to set sail, full of faith, and pressing on towards the dreams and visions he’s given you. 

To listen to this full devotional CLICK HERE.