DOUBT
us eventually (or periodically) run into some set of variables
– tragic circumstances, theological quandaries, physical or
mental illnesses, or our own reflective temperaments – that
leave questions welling up inside us.
We must determine, it seems to me, if doubt is always
destructive or if it is potentially helpful. Are doubts the enemy
of faith or, as American author Frederick Buechner puts it,
“the ants in the pants of faith,” the very things that keep faith
“alive and moving”?
The Bible encourages us to move toward faith and away
from doubt. And yet, the “Hall of Fame” believers held up as
examples in Hebrews 11 were almost unanimously a questioning lot. The point seems less that they never doubted and more
that they came to God with their doubts. Some of them argued
with or even hollered at God. But they didn’t walk away.
My favourite example is Jacob. Genesis 32 describes a
mysterious encounter with a stranger whom Jacob eventually understands to be God Himself. Jacob wrestles with God
all night long and tells Him “I will not let You go until You
bless me.”
In the morning Jacob gets his blessing and a new name:
“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel [‘God-Wres-tler’], because you have struggled with God and with human
beings and have overcome” (Genesis 32: 28).
Imagine that. God names not only Jacob but also His people, His nation, His church: Israel. God-wrestlers. It seems God
