Doubt - Jeremiah (3)

So, there are two questions of the floor:

• We all call God unfair when things aren't going well for us, but do you call God unfair when He does good for you?

• Do you ever doubt?

Of course we do! We may not at this particular moment, but we'd be lying to ourselves and everyone else if we said that we have never doubted God.

At some time, we are each plagued with serious doubts. You are not alone. These doubts come in a variety of ways. They may be doubts about what God is like. They may be doubts about how God acts. We are only human, it is our nature. We ask ourselves, ‘Why does this trouble happen to me?’ This is a natural question. But it can lead to doubts about God’s sovereignty. We start to wonder if God is really ruling.

We must remember at these times to turn to our Bible for help. It will stop the doubt when it begins. If we fail to do this, the enemy can and will use our lack of certainty against us. He will use it to take away all our certainties, our surities, our assurances. We will begin to question God’s sovereignty, His onmiscience, His omni-presence. We will begin to doubt that God even exists.

It all begins insidiously. Our first thoughts are: ‘Perhaps God does not really care.’ And, we end with: ‘Perhaps God is not really there at all.’ We must put our confidence in God’s Word, the Bible.

‘Our Lord God rules. He is All-Powerful.’  (Revelation 19:6.)

This is a powerful fact. This is a fact that does not change. It comforts us. It remains true whatever in happening in our life. It remains true no matter how I feel. God has never stopped being king. The events in my life are not just accidents. God rules! Things do not happen by chance.

But, that's not the only thing going on with Jeremiah...We must pay attention to something else. Because...

Doubt is often not the only problem

Doubt often comes when we have let other matters control our lives. This means that we have lost our trust in God’s sovereignty. So, the difficulties in life seem to be very great, almost overwhelming. Then we aren't so sure about God’s love.

This happened in Jeremiah’s life. At the beginning of his work for God, he was very brave. He accused the people of turning away from God. God was like ‘a supply of fresh water’ (Jeremiah 2:13).

Now, he is feeling full of despair. He cries to God. He says: ‘Lord, I think that you have changed. You are like a supply of water that became dry. So it stopped’  (Jeremiah 15:18).

There is some bad sytuff going on in the prophet's life. Perhaps there were some serious weaknesses in the his spiritual life. These things would allow doubts to enter his mind. They would lead to a lack of certainty.

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