Having doubt and having hope

Having doubt and having hope

Thursday, April 14, 2016
Megann Graf

How is it possible to not have doubts when we live in a world where so many things don’t make sense?  How is it possible to live without hope, when God’s power is so mightily displayed?   It’s quite a pickle we’re in when we think that these two things cannot exist at the same time.  We want to flip back and forth.  But, what if they are meant to coincide? 

In the book “Help my unbelief” by Barnabus Piper, he talks about two kinds of doubt, unbelieving doubt and believing doubt.  He says, “Unbelieving doubt is that which destroys fragile beliefs.  Believing doubt is that which strengthens our beliefs.  Instead of letting unbelief in, it ventures out in faith san seeks to waylay it.  Just as unbelieving doubt is against belief, this sort of doubt is the driving force behind belief.  It is the catalyst to find what we believe rather than the obstacle from keeping us from it.  It starts from the place of simple belief and becomes stronger as it encounters, engages and overcomes unbelief.  And it can do this because it is belief backed by a real, good God.  It is not merely intellectual sparring, but rather spiritual engagement through the Holy Spirit.” 

I love that thought- that when I have doubts WITH belief, that I am engaging with the Holy Spirit.  He doesn’t want me to follow along like some puppet, He wants me to have faith, yes, but not blind faith.  He is big enough to allow me to say “why God” not in anger and bitterness, but mixed with the acknowledgement that He is so much bigger than I am.  I KNOW he knows the why.  I KNOW he has the answers.  I know that my mind cannot comprehend the beauty of His sovereignty.  Any yet, I believe that it is through believing doubt that we have hope.  That’s the difference between unbelieving doubt and believing doubt to me.  Unbelieving doubt is hopelessness.  It keeps us captive in despair, it pulls us into cynicism and anger.  But believing doubt, that is hope.  It says, that even though I don’t understand, I believe that He does.  Even though I can’t see what’s coming or make sense of senselessness, He can.  My belief gives me faith and my faith gives me hope that He is good, all the time. 

“’Lord, I believe, help my unbelief’ is the best any of us can do really, but thank God it is enough.”  - Frederic Buechner