Hiding Doubt: Part II

The second installment of "Hiding Doubt" (click here for part I)

Often doubt is perceived as a bad or wrong emotion. Consider the word brave. What is the opposite of bravery? Most people would suggest that fear is the opposite of bravery. Yet, truthfully the opposite of bravery is cowardice. Cowardice is running away from fear. Fear is actually a component of bravery, an emotion that allows us to be brave. Fear must occur for the brave. Because of this mis-perception our culture has an aversion to feeling fear in order present confidence and bravery--yet it is in the face of fear that one actually is brave. This is true with doubt also.

Many would consider the opposite of faith is doubt. Yet, truthfully the opposite of faith is not doubt, but unbelief. Unbelief is the conscious or unconscious decision to not choose faith when doubt is present. 

Doubt and fear are comparable mis-perceptions. Faith in our culture is glorified and honored, it is a gift of the strong and positive minded person--doubt is an emotion of the weak and feeble. Yet just as fear is a component of bravery, doubt is a component of faith. Expressing, encountering and wrestling with doubt is the path and practice of faith. A person has faith when they reflect, encounter, embrace and overcome doubt. Genuine doubt is the expression of an honest heart, that asks, seeks and knocks for truth. Fear and doubt are emotions of faith and bravery.

It is through faith and bravery that we can encounter the relationships, the heart issues, that allow for doubt to arise. Yet, it is a worthy question, in whom are we placing our faith and for whom are we being brave? If doubt and fear, (the heavy concerns of the human being), are to be encountered--it requires a relationship beyond those emotions and the situation in which they arise. 


Is it surprising that the harder emotions of the human being, the cloudy area of relationships, must be encountered in order to overcome the  doubt? 


Are we willing to admit that the danger in drawing back from doubt's challenge is choosing cowardice and unbelief? 


And, since doubt and fear are relational, what are the relational weaknesses that one must admit and open?




God says something very powerful to Paul in 2 Corinthians, 

"My grace is sufficient for you 

for My power is perfected in weakness".

How could it be that God's power is perfected in our weakness? Our cowardice and unbelief roots itself in thinking that the God who made us cannot handle our sin. We hear people all over the place say something like, "God is so holy He cannot be with sin.  He saves from sin so He can be with us." This is suppose to sound loving; God makes us holy because He cannot be around sin. But this really plays on our guilt.  We are forced to hide our doubt and our fears from others and especially from God. So we force our ourselves to be "strong" and "not doubt" and "not be afraid"--because God cannot handle such emotions. (for a reflection on "The Gift of Powerlessness"), see our friends blog called "Nothing New")

If you can't be yourself with God, then with whom will you?

"Do not fear" is common in the scriptures--yet often we interpret this as "stop fearing", or "fear is not allowed". We perceive that God wants us to repress fear for bravery and doubt for faith. 

Yet, imagine if a father said "Do not fear" to his daughter. The phrase may sound different in the context of relationship, it would imply two things. 

1) that he can see what is going on inside her, even before she does. He lovingly labels her emotions and lets her know He understands. 

2) he is able to do something about her fears. He can handle her fear/doubt because He is bigger and available. 

As her father, he is bigger than her fears. And because  he knows her he knows how to rightly deal with her fears. This father is both understanding, comforting and acting all at once. The daughter may be experiencing fear, but that fear is suddenly placed in context of her father, and trusting her father trumps her fear. This is the initiative of God in these statements, not to cover fear or doubt--but to fully deal with Him in comfort and power. How do you think God evaluates everything going on inside of you? Can you talk to Him about this?