Daily Devotional For Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Good morning Southside. Doubt is something everyone encounters in almost every area of their life. Doubt is something that is not necessarily bad, but it can be if we let it paralyze us with fear. So, let me ask you this question: are you more comfortable before a decision or after a decision? Some people have no problem making decisions and simply live with them. Others, after a decision is made, second guess themselves. They battle what I call the “paralysis of analysis.”

Some believers may doubt their salvation after committing a certain sin or falling to some moral failure. This doubt is from the devil. Jesus said this in John 10:27-29:

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow me. (28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, (29) for my Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand” (NLT).

Salvation is not based on what we do but all on what Christ did for us. As I said, doubt is common. Even John the Baptizer, the forerunner for the Messiah Jesus, experienced doubt about who Jesus was in:

• Luke 7:18-19, “The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, (19) and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’” (NLT).
• Matthew 11:2-3, “John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, (3) ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’” (NLT).

After the Resurrection, Thomas had doubts about the authenticity, reality and truthfulness of the Jesus’ Resurrection in John 20:24-25: 

“One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. (25) They told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, ‘I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in His hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in His side’” (NLT).

Doubting God is normal and healthy if it leads us to trust God. There are times life does not turn out the way we hope – we experience the unexpected death of a loved one, or we get a bad medical report or we lose our marriage or job. These can test us but a little wrestling with God and our faith is a good thing. One of the reasons doubt comes is we start thinking emotionally and stop thinking theologically. This is the point of Hebrews 6:17-18:

“God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change His mind. (18) So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us” (NLT).

Looking through the lens of doubt theologically rather than emotionally gives us encouragement, hope and anchors our doubt to what is lasting and true. There will be times when bad things happen to us or someone we love that causes us to ask these questions: "Why God? If You love me, why did You allow this to happen? Do you love me God?" I have seen people doubt God when they lost a child or a loved one was tragically killed. Telling them, "Aw, you shouldn't feel this way" only pushes them further away from God. People have to struggle with their faith to burst out of their doubt just like a butterfly has to struggle to burst out of its cacoon. The butterfly builds its strength to fly in doing so. Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll gives us this analogy of handling doubts:

“I distinctly remember when our troop ship arrived (after seventeen days at sea!) at the harbor city of Yokohama, Japan. As we approached the harbor, the skipper stopped our ship and it sat silent in the deep sea, like an enormous, bloated whale. We Marines waited on the deck in the hot sunshine as a tiny tugboat left the harbor and came out toward our huge vessel. Soon, a small Japanese gentleman came up the side of our ship and ultimately took the controls of our ship as he personally guided it until we were safely docked in the harbor. Someone later explained the reason to me: There were still mines in the Japanese harbor. That's a fun thought after seventeen days at sea: "Welcome to Japan; the mines are ready for you!" He guided us through the treacherous waters of the harbor and right up to the pier. The point of this, of course, is not anchors and skippers, ships and harbors. The point is this: This is exactly what Jesus Christ does when the bottom of life drops out” (Source: Chuck Swindoll).

Assignment: Take a moment to reflect over times of doubt in your life and how God got you through each of those doubts. Look at each one from 3 perspectives: first, how you felt at the moment of that doubt; second, how you felt going through that doubt; third, how you felt after coming out of that doubt with God’s help. What was the pattern for you and how did God get you to more solid ground to stand upon?

Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. (6) Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Thank You Lord for including in Scripture the doubts of others and how You helped them break through those doubts. I know that without faith it is impossible to please You (Heb. 11:6) and that I do not need to trust my own feelings and emotions, but Your Word. Thank You Jesus for Your patience with me when I doubt and Your help to get me back to faith. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly