I Don't Doubt It. (19 Dec 2011)

Now THERE’s an English word that defies all rules.  Doubt. The ‘ou’ sounds like ‘ow’, as in now, vice crow, as in how, rather than tow.  And the ‘b’ is SILENT!  Yes, there are a few other English words where the b is silent, like comb, limb and dumb----wonder why the English language has so many silent letter…sure seems dumb.

Today, the Fayetteville Church is supposed to start a series of personal lessons on faith, to help us through this period of time (the holidays) which affects many different people in many different ways.  The title of the first lesson from the leaders of the church is ‘Choosing Faith over Doubt.  Loneliness, for those who have few friends or close family, is one of the most common feelings at this time of the year.  For others, December and other ‘dreary’ months of the winter season bring on despair and, well, dreariness.  For still others, this season causes many sins to come back into one’s life; such as debauchery, greed and selfishness, not to mention going (more) into debt.  (Hmmm…another weird silent b word.)

The word ‘doubt’ (in varying forms) can be found only 15 times (only once in the OT)  in the NIV Bible, and only 12 of them refer to someone having little faith.  Forms of the word ‘faith’ however, appears 510 times!  Undoubtedly (this form of the word is found in Job 12-2) God EXPECTS us to have faith more prevalent in our lives than doubt. Solomon lets us peek (or is that peak?) into God’s Words when he wrote PROVERBS 3-3:  "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."

Jesus talks of teeny-weeny bits of faith moving trees and mountains, yet no one ever said doubting was powerful.  Solomon also discusses doubt in this PROVERBS (13-15): "Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard." Unfaithfulness = doubt.  When we choose doubt, times become even harder than they were before.  The Christmas and New Year holiday season IS hard for many.  It is hard because of past sins.  It is hard because of loneliness.  It is hard because of the worldly enticements out there.  BUT, if we decide to elect to have faith, to believe that these yearly holiday periods are only temporary, and that a much better life will prevail for each of us after our life’s ‘season’ has ended, then I doubt the season will seem so lonely and bleak.

Personally, I have chosen to have faith.  I believe in Christ and life in Heaven.  I doubt Satan’s schemes (even though they are clever), and trust in God to carry me through rough seasons in my life.  I have lost a brother-in-law to war, and two others to cancer.  I have also lost a sister to cancer, and one of my brothers was murdered.  My dad is in a nursing home because of Alzheimer’s, and my father-in-law has advanced cancer.  Yet, throughout this tumultuous life, I continue to believe in the love of God.  Sometimes I wonder at His methods and reasons, but I still have faith that what He is doing is right.

I hope each of you decide to choose faith over doubt (or dowt if you prefer) and know that you can move the mountains of your life out of your way and win favor with God.