Why do we doubt God? Why don’t we trust what He says and actually take it as “the gospel truth”? The world uses that phrase as an idiom, but it is based on what is known to be true. The Gospel is THE Truth. The Word of God, His promises, His declarations have been established through the blood covenant with Jesus Christ. So why are we second guessing the very words that He staked the sacrifice of His one and only Son on? Since the beginning, God has continued to create, renew, restore, and uphold us in His promises! So, is it really God that we doubt, mistrust, and second guess? Or, is it our own selves we don’t have enough confidence in?
We doubt our own worth to God, even though He calls us the “apple of His eye” (Psalm 17:8) or that His thoughts of us are more than the grains of sand (Psalm 139:18). And if that’s not enough, we often skip over the very beginning of one of the most quoted verses, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world…”. Let’s just park right there for a minute. God loved (welcomed, to be fond of, to be well pleased, to be contented with) even with all the sin already established before us! He loved! He loved what? The world! All of it! From His very creation and arrangement to the inhabitants which Strong’s defines as “the ungodly multitude”. From the world’s affairs to the earthly goods that often draw us away from Him. Yet, He loved us enough to send His Son as a payment for what we so freely take for granted.
We also do not trust that we are who He says that we are. Yet, God created us in His image (Genesis 1:27). In 1 Corinthians 2:16, it says that we have the mind of Christ. God trusts us so much that He calls us His temple and sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Would you give a part of yourself to a person that you do not trust?
We second guess something that we know in our hearts to be true. We just don’t want to believe or accept that it is actually for us and not just for someone else more deserving. Or we are talking ourselves out of something because of the cost or sacrifice of commitment. Either way, James 1:8 says that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Therefore, if we can’t make up our minds, should we expect God to do it for us? And, if He did, would we honor Him for it or rebel like a toddler being told no? This is why God lays it all out before us and allows us to make that choice.
So, what is holding back? Regardless of what we’ve been through or going through, God has not and will not change (Psalm 33:11). He will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He is our Shepherd, our fortress, our Deliverer, and we also have Jesus as our advocate (John 17:15). He is faithful, loving, gentle, patient, and kind. He is a good, good Father. Let’s take Him at His Word.
* By Donna Butler