Is it a sin to doubt God? - Doubt - TouchPoints

Psalm 94:19When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

Matthew 11:2-3John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

Matthew 14:31Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

David, John the Baptist, and Peter, along with many other biblical heroes, struggled with various doubts about God and his ability or desire to help. God is not afraid of or threatened by our doubts. As long as we seek answers from him in the midst of our doubt, we can wrestle with our questions freely. However, doubt can become sin if it leads us away from God to skepticism, cynicism, and hardheartedness. But doubt is a blessing when our honest searching leads us to a better understanding of God and a deepening faith in him.

Genesis 3:4-6“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

One of Satan’s tactics is to get us to doubt God’s goodness. He tries to get us to forget all God has given us and focus on what we don’t have. If we are spending much of our time thinking about what we don’t have, we may be slipping into unhealthy doubt.

Psalm 95:9There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did.

God gives everyone plenty of evidence to believe in him. Doubt comes when we fail to stop long enough to observe all the evidence. And when doubt turns to disbelief, we are in danger of ignoring God altogether.

John 20:27-29Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Doubt can be healthy or destructive, depending on what we do with it. We can use our doubts to learn about God and to make our faith stronger.