Psalm 77:1-9
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint.
You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart mused and my spirit inquired: "Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"
Who doubts God? Don't we all in different ways and in different moments of our lives? Doubt takes many forms. Does he exist? Is he good? Does he know what is happening to me? Does he care? Is he strong (and willing) enough to intervene? Does it even matter?
When do we doubt? We often think of doubt as belonging to a moment of personal crisis - a moment of loss or lostness - and often it is. But doubt can also be a subtle companion; one that quietly walks with us and, unknown to us, slowly robs us of confidence and peace.
Doubt also belongs to the one who has it all. When we have too many toys and too much stuff and too many entertainments, life can begin to feel shallow and meaningless. Solomon was the richest and most powerful man of his era; he spared himself no possible pleasure, be it sensual, intellectual or purposeful. He built cities and homes and gardens, he married women and took concubines, he drank and partied ... and concluded that it is all "vanity" and "chasing after the wind".
When we doubt we are weakened because part of the floor of our life has come loose, our footing is not so sure and we live with an uneasy sense of sliding or insecurity.
Is doubt allowed?? Will God be angry? Will we seem to be weak?
I love it that some of the strongest and most courageous people of history were doubters - and I love it even more that they found response to their cries.
The man who wrote Psalm 77 was encountering suffering in his life and couldn't understand why God was taking his time in answering prayer. Read verses 1-3:
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.
When we face frustration or insecurity or danger or loss, we cry out to God. It is an instinctive human response - intuitively we understand that we cannot control all that goes on around us. We know we need help. Why doesn't God always answer right when we call?
Look at what the writer says ...
I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted... You kept my eyes from closing...
Clearly he is in great distress. He reaches towards God and finds ... nothing. He is so afflicted he cannot sleep. Even in his great need however, he senses God's hand - YOU kept my eyes from closing - you can't even give me the relief of sleep! Don't you know how exhausted I am!
Why would God rob a desperate man of a night of needed sleep? Doesn't he know the anguish will only deepen in the dark night hours? Does he want the man to become desperate? Is he waiting for even more accusations and doubt to come out?
I think that God welcomes our doubts and questions and confusion. There is a type of doubt that is profoundly healthy for the person of faith. It forces us to think about why we believe and whether believing matters.
God wants us to struggle and he welcomes our questions and doubts - even when they come accompanied by accusation and anger. (check out Job sometime - the part AFTER he accepts what has happened and then starts arguing with God) Doubt helps us to understand the perspective we look at life with - and helps us to grow into a greater perspective.
God wants us to struggle with questions as to his character and faithfulness. He is not afraid of our doubts. He guides us and wants to deal with our questioning: “Why...?”
In doubt, we may make accusations against God. Look at verses 7-10 ...
My heart mused and my spirit inquired: "Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"
We like to imagine that we do not deserve the suffering; that it is unfair. When we experience pain, we feel rejected.
We think God is denying us something to which we have a right; that he is punishing us; that he does not love us any more; that he has betrayed us; and so on.
Has God forgotten to be merciful? The worst thing we can imagine ... that God's acceptance of us, his favor is lost. If this is true, what can happen next?
We need to think about where suffering comes from - does it come from the hand of God or are there other reasons for it?
Where does affliction come from?
· From the “broken” world: sickness, natural disasters, accidents... We look around us and see that the world we live in is no longer working the way it was created to work - from viruses to tsunamis, our world is an uncertain place. No amount of health insurance or savings or seat belts can protect us and our loved ones from the world's dangers.
· As a consequence of our own misdeeds, self-centeredness or wrong decisions . Sometimes our most painful suffering is that which is caused by our own mistakes and selfishness. We wrestle with "why did I?", "what if...?" and "what does this mean about who I am?".
· As a consequence of the misdeeds, self-centeredness or wrong decisions of others. Sometimes people are mean spirited or negligent or uncaring. Sometimes we face real injustice or serious and lasting harm. Affliction caused by others can cause affliction caused by self as we give in to bitterness, vengefulness or hopelessness.
· From the enemy - yes, we have one! In Job's case, his enemy marched right up to God and demanded proof that Job's faithfulness wasn't just the result of God's handouts. Take away the goods from Job's life and he will curse you to your face, he taunted.
Suffering can come from many sources - it can even come from excessive "good", from boredom and a loss of purpose.
How does God react to doubt?
He does not despise or reject those who doubt! Look at some amazing examples of people who doubted...
In Luke 1:18-20 Zechariah doubted that God would give him a son. He asked for a sign. I used to think that his being mute was a punishment for doubt, but read it again. He asked "how can I know?" God granted him a revelation and a sign. The people around him recognized that he had had a great spiritual revelation and the prophecy about his son was attested to by the miracle of his father's tied then loosened tongue.
One of my favorites is in Luke 7:18-23. John the Baptist was in jail awaiting ... the unknown. Soon he would be put to death. In the quiet and darkness of his cell, he began to doubt. "What if I have been wrong all along...?" He sent his disciples to question Jesus. "Are you really the one...?" How did Jesus react? With a scathing rebuke? "John! You idiot! Haven't you seen signs and wonders enough? Didn't you hear God's audible voice? You are such a wimp!"
No! Jesus held John in great esteem. He answered with the strongest and most comforting affirmative possible. He told John's disciples to sit down and witness his work among the people and then sent them back to John in his prison with the words of the Prophet Isaiah. "Look, the blind see and the lame walk – I AM the Messiah, the one you are waiting for." Of course, this affirmation could only give comfort to John because he knew the Word so well that he would instantly recognize the comfort and assurance in these words.
Here is one that I have held tightly to many times; Mark 9:24. The father of a demonized boy comes to Jesus in desperation and says that he needs Jesus to help him "if you can". Jesus states that everything is possible to him who believes and the father cries out his belief and doubt together, "I do believe! Help me overcome my unbelief!" He was granted a miracle.
So why is doubt condemned in the book of James? James 1:6-8
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
What does “double-minded” mean? Double minded speaks to the heart that clings equally to two opposing sources of comfort and security. The heart is divided between the world and God; torn between two wills: Matthew 6:24. He wants to serve both but is left in confusion. This person is covering his bases, believing in God "just in case" his wealth and position fail him. In doubt, this person grasps tightly to the "known" - those personal resources (real or perceived) within reach - he doesn't seek God for help. This kind of doubt, God rejects.
See this in contrast with faith and God’s not finding fault - in James 1:5 God gives wisdom freely and without criticism to those who seek it. When we doubt and are out of perspective, this does not threaten or distance God - he only asks that we look to him for answers. James 4:7-8 reiterates that when we draw near to God, he draws near to us. He can take any kind of assault from us - He just wants us to want Him to have an answer. He asks us to lay aside our double minded confidence that surely we will find a way to fix it all ourselves, from our own resources.
In Jude verse 22, he says "be merciful to those who doubt..." God understands human weakness. Look up Psalms 78:39 and 103:14-17.
How can we overcome doubt?
The writer of the Psalm chose to look to what he already knew about God, to the history of God's dealings with his people.
Psalm 77:10-15
Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High."
I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.
Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Then he looks to the power of God in creation ...
Psalm 77:16 The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.
Then he looks at how God rescued his people and formed the nation of Israel - our God is a God of history and he is always at work on behalf of his people. Psalm 77:20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. God as Shepherd, as guide; intimately involved with his people.
What else can I do when I doubt?
Understand the true source of our suffering; cease to make God responsible for it.
Understand that hardships and doubts are a normal part of our spiritual warfare; we need to take God’s side in the conflict. He wants to help us, but cannot do so if we close ourselves off to Him.
Decide to think about the good things and blessings that God has given; develop perspective and gratitude.
Recognize the character of God. Look over your life and choose to see where his hand has sheltered and provided and comforted.
I once went through a period of months of prolonged illness added to by pain from a back injury. Every day I got into the shower and went through the list of things that God had provided in my life and asked myself if these provisions were things I could be grateful for. I could. Every day for weeks, then months and for a few years I needed that daily reality check and I still can't get into a (hot) shower without a flash to gratitude. It has not kept all bitterness and grumbling out of my life but it has sure had an impact on where to go with it. In other, harder times, I know that my life has literally depended on believing that God is dependable - impossible to believe without a remembering of history.
Some of our most profound struggles in life are with doubt - even if we don't call it that. It isn't easy to choose the invisible over the hardships right in our face. God promises that it will never be a waste of time to seek him. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." In other words, there will never fail to be a reward for those who seek. (even if he keeps our eyes open at night for a season)
