Worship and Doubt

Have you ever harbored questions about your Christian faith? I heard Michael Ramsden speak in Colorado Springs this weekend. Michael is the European Director of the Ravi Zacharias Ministry and joint Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and Lecturer in Christian Apologetics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, England.



The Q &A time with Ramsden reminded me once again that believers harbor doubts and questions about the Christian faith as well as atheists, agnostics and skeptics. Unfortunately, as Michael mentioned, many believers experience reluctance whether to voice their doubts and questions. They wonder, What others will think of me?
Yet, not honestly processing questions only troubles believers even more down the road, especially if it involves suffering. Why is it that when tragedy hits some people they lose their faith, and for others suffering births their faith?


You know what? We are not God. We do not know all the answers, but we contemplate questions. Deuteronomy 29:29a (NIV) tells us that, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God.”


Here’s the big secret. Face it. We all struggle with doubts. Throughout Scripture men and women doubted in the midst of their faith. Even after Jesus’ resurrection some disciples entertained doubts. "When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful" Matthew 28:17 (NIV).  This gives us confidence that it’s okay to wrestle, and to process our deep questions.

Can we possess faith in the midst of our doubt? Yes. Rather than our doubts pulling us away from God, they swing open doors to exercise our faith. Like the disciples, we can worship in the midst of doubt, and that doubt can lead us to deeper truths of God’s faithfulness. God uses our doubts and experiences to reveal Himself to us.

Many years ago God revealed Himself to me through many ways. However, the birth of my son provided the catalyst jumpstarting my faith journey. At the moment of his birth in that delivery room I was incapable of believing he was a “product” of conception or an accident. I could no longer believe he was a random choice or lucky mud or whether it mattered if I cared or not. As John Ortberg says, “Every child is a testimony that God wants the world to go on.”

From the injustice in Libya to the tragedy in Japan, most of us witness or experience deep trauma sometime during our life time. I don’t have the all the answers or the right responses to resolve all the difficult issues of life, but I do know some wrong ones. You probably do to.

Sometimes believers offer overly simplistic answers. Like Job’s miserable comforters, some preachers with bad theology heap even more pain onto our lives.

Best-selling professional doubters express certainty that God doesn’t exist and then sling  their anger towards Him. It seems that God is their readily available scapegoat. History proves that professional doubters keep dying and worship right alongside doubt continues spreading.

Atheist, skeptic or believer - we all have doubts and uncertainties. Doubt right along side of faith is common to all. If we are honest we struggle with a mix of faith and doubt.


But questioning in the midst of our suffering can point us to a hope much deeper and beyond ourselves. I invite you to join us on our new blog journey entitled Worship and Doubt…