Overcome Doubt: Have Faith in God

Doubt is lacking confidence in God. Our doubt in God decreases our faith. So, how can we overcome doubt in our life? Faith! Faith in God is trusting in Him. Trust in God increases our faith. Today, be encouraged to overcome doubt and have faith in God.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1, ESV

Faith in God is believing who God is and reflecting on all the wonderful things that He has done. In the faith chapter, Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

Even what we see in God’s creation came about through what is invisible. God spoke our world into existence. Since creation, we have seen God’s power and miracles over and over again. All throughout the Bible there are stories to grow our faith in God.

Overcome Doubt | The Israelites’ Lack of Faith

God’s people, the Israelites, saws with their own eyes the miraculous power and wonders of God in the wilderness, but yet still repeatedly doubted and didn’t trust God when things got hard. To only name a few of the miraculous moments, think back to the parting of the Red Sea, water from the rock, or the manna for food. Unfortunately, because of their repetitive doubt and unbelief, they were not allowed to live to see the promised land. Their grumbling and complaining in the wilderness kept them from experiencing all the great things that God had for them in the promised land.

“All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, ‘If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?’”

Numbers 14:2-3, NIV

We are no better than the Israelites, from doubting to complaining, to simply not trusting and loving God the way we should. Let us learn from the sins, doubts, complaints, and disobedience of the Israelites. They doubted God and were hopeless to the point where they thought it would be better to just die in the wilderness. They didn’t trust in the Lord’s protection and provision, even though God continually supplied for their needs, instead they spoke doubt over their circumstances. May we speak God’s faithfulness in our own lives and circumstances, and not our doubts, worries, and fears.

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ‘How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, “As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.”

Numbers 14:26-29, NIV

They spoke their fears and doubts and thought it would have better for them to have just died in Egypt or the wilderness, which is what ended up happening to them. Death before entering the promised land. Only their children, who were under the age of 20, were able to enter into the promised land, along with the wholehearted Caleb and Joshua too.

Overcome Doubt | What Jesus Said About Faith

Our doubts and fears take our eyes off of God and His mighty power. Jesus spoke about faith many times throughout the gospels. In Matthew 21:21-22, Jesus said to his disciples, “‘Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.’”

This shows us how powerful it is to have faith in God. When we look back to the ancient stories of the Bible, we can be reassured by God’s faithfulness that is apparent again and again throughout the Bible. We can even reflect back to the times that God has been faithful in our personal lives too. If we doubt God’s faithfulness, then let us read and dwell on the stories of the Bible to encourage us.

The apostles had a time where they asked the Lord to increase their faith. Jesus responded that faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed could uproot and plant a mulberry bush in the sea. A mustard seed is small, though it is alive and growing. The amount of faith is not as important as the genuineness of our faith.

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.”

Luke 17:5-6, ESV

Remember the story where Jesus healed a woman the moment she touched the edge of his cloak. She was immediately healed by her faith. In Matthew 9:20-22 says,

“Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.”

We serve an all-powerful God! The solution for doubt is faith in our omnipotent God. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present. There is nothing that He does not see or know. May our faith in God fill us, not our doubts. All things are possible with God.

“But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

Matthew 19:26, ESV