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One of the hard things about struggling with doubt is this accompanying second-hand problem—where you are not only feeling doubts, but you’re feeling guilty for feeling doubts. The Bible never says that doubt is a good thing—because faith trusts. But, on the other hand, the Bible never says we’re to succumb to a death spiral where we’re worrying about the fact that we’re worrying, and doubting about the fact that we’re doubting.
We should be able to face our doubts—be able to name them. Sometimes people will say, “Well, all faith has doubt in it.” I think we should instead say, “All true faith is trusting.” Doubt is a very common, human, natural struggle. Arm yourself to acknowledge it, face it, name it, and then do combat with it—fighting the doubts hand-to-hand with particular Truth.
Rehearse the Promises of God
When facing doubt, you need very specific Truth. You could have a 3″x5″ card—on one side is your doubt, and on the other side is something true. Which will it be? Which will capture and own your heart? You must wrestle your way through that.
My own conversion had an element of wrestling with doubt. I was a skeptic, doubter, and an opponent of Christian faith, but I was won by a promise of God—that He would take out of me the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh that was soft, and He would wash me in water. And that promise stood against twenty-five years of doubt—of disagreement, even. And the Lord won the argument. Be fully prepared to fight, but fight honestly with your struggle.
David Powlison (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a teacher, a counselor, and the executive director of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation. He is also the senior editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling and the author of Seeing with New Eyes, Good and Angry, and Speaking Truth in Love.
