Good Doubt  -  Bad Doubt  

Is there a difference? 

     As children of the Most High GOD, we are told to not doubt, and made to feel guilty if we do. Is there such a thing as good doubt? The answer is absolutely, yes there is. I asked GOD, "Why do I doubt all the time? How can you really use me, love me, trust me, want me if I doubt the direction you are giving me? The answer I got was  

     "Child, you know that doubt is good at times, when it sends you into the Word to prove what you hear." 

     I knew that answer was from the Holy Spirit, because it came to me before I even finished asking, and it was wisdom far beyond my limited brain could have thought on my own.  The English language is so boring whereas, Greek and Hebrew have several different kinds of words for our one English word. There is a doubt that really means, "research this," and there is a doubt that mean, "ya, right!" So, doubting is good, if it means seeking more information. There is a chip on one's shoulder doubt, and then there's please GOD help my unbelief doubt. 

     The best example we can see would be John-the-Baptist. He was the greatest born of women, Jesus said. Yet, while he was in a dungeon, chained to a wall, he sent his cousin a message, the one he "knew" since he was in the womb. During his despair, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the One to come, or should we look for another. We are thinking, Really, John, it's your cousin, you lept in your mother's womb when my mother was in your presence. You baptized him and saw the Holy Spirit descending him. For Pete’s sake, how can you question all this now?

     Jesus didn't say that, though. He just sent back a confirming answer, not yes or no, but consider the evidence: " Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 those who are blind receive sight and those who limp walk, those with leprosy are cleansed and those who are deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is any person who does not take offense at Me.”"

     John had doubts, because of his dreadful hopeless situation, not because he was cynical, needing to prove Jesus wrong, like the Pharisees. Their doubt was different in tone and inference, theirs was from pride, from a chip on their shoulders that was permanent.  The kind John had comes from a broken contrite heart. Hopelessness and faithlessness are two different things. Hope is a feeling, while faith is fact. We can lose hope without losing our faith. Hope is an emotion and emotions have no intellect, whereas facts are truth, and facts don’t have feelings.

     When hopelessness and fear set with me and I doubt that I'm truly hearing from GOD, I compare it to what I have learned in Scripture. I research and I research until my eyes bleed and my fingers are fused to the keyboard. Life in the fiery furnace of affliction can be exhausting and scorching.  I've spent a lot of years in the Bible, and I'm mean nose to page, so I have a pretty good working knowledge of it, and I know how to get around the Whole Counsel of GOD.  I know where to go to feed my faith with facts. Eventually, after I overdose with Scriptures that I know are facts, there is a slight whisper of hope that accompanies that faith, until the fatigue sets in. Never believe what you feel when you are tired. That’s the enemies favorite time to attack.

     When we fall in love with someone, what do we do? We study everything about that person, their mannerisms, what makes them tick, how they think, and their history. We fall all over ourselves trying to make them deliriously happy.  Yet when it comes to loving YHVH with all our hearts, souls and mind, we go to church and are spoon-fed a few verses in 43-minute sermon, and we are done for the week. We cannot really determine if we are hearing from GOD if we do that, even if we never miss a sermon. Think back, how many sermons you have heard, how many can you remember all the content? Not very many, huh? Just a few highlights of a good one, right?

     I was married to a cynic. He has always been a cynic. His attitude toward anything I told him that I thought GOD was going to do, his response was always the same. "Well, I guess we'll see if it happens." His cynicism is a vicious cycle of doubt and disbelief, to complete unfruitfulness in the Kingdom.  It was a cancer in his spiritual life that was terminal.  When his spiritual life died, he walked away from GOD, permanently. His cynicism kept GOD from showing Himself because of chip on his shoulder. If a cynic walks away, in all likelihood, they won't come back. There is a difference between a cynic and a prodigal. The cynic walks away out of disbelief, whereas the prodigal walks away out of hurt and not knowing how to process the emotions, or the event that sent them over the edge.

     We are told not to question GOD, but I can't find that in the Bible.  Lots of men questioned GOD.  The only stupid questions are the ones not asked.  How else can GOD speak to us if we don't ask Him questions and if we don't compare our circumstances with Scripture.  You know an answer or direction you feel led is really from GOD if it matches with Scripture, is bathed in Wisdom, and fits in GOD's character. It is probably something you never would have thought up yourself, because it’s way beyond your any human wisdom you have achieved.   I have always said, if you look for GOD everywhere, that is exactly where you will find Him. In other words, the more we pursue the One we love, the more we will hear from Him, learn from Him, see His Hand at work, and know Him intimately. When seeking truth, let Scripture interpret Scripture. One Scripture taken out of context is not proof enough, there must a few more Scriptures in line with the historicity of GOD's dealings with His people. Therefore, one must study the Bible from cover to cover and the historical context. I tell people, if it makes no sense to humans, it's probably from the Almighty. As mere humans, we can never really know the mind of GOD or, understand the ways of GOD.