If we are honest with ourselves, every believer has wrestled with doubts about God at some point in their life. One of the things that really helped me with my doubts was science class. The more I learned about how our planet functioned the more it solidified my belief in an all powerful creator who fine tuned all the details of our existence. God set up our planet in a way for life to exist. Everything from our planet’s distance from the sun and the tilt of its axis, to the levels of elements that make up our atmosphere. During that time in my life Romans 1:19- 20, alongside the science I was learning, really helped to guide me to greater assurance of God’s existence and power.
“19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
I no longer have doubts about God’s existence or about how our world was formed. What I find interesting is that despite the conclusions I have come to about the existence and power of God I still struggle with doubt that He can do things that I deem impossible. It’s really a faulty line of logic. If I believe God is the creator of all things… then He would also have the power to do what I see as impossible. There are times when I find myself doubting God has the power to change my circumstances, or to change a heart, or to heal the pain of the past. However, that view is not consistent with scripture. Isaiah 44:24
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
If God is the creator, as the two verses in this devotional indicate, then he has all the power needed to impact and act in my life and the lives of those around me. The problem then is me not God. I give up, instead of trust that as Luke 1:37 says that “nothing will be impossible with God”. In my times of doubt and resignation I need to remind myself that the God who created the universe is on my side. He has the power, I do not. Instead of giving up because of my limited understanding and power I need to take my concern to Him and allow Him to direct and guide me. Also lost in this thought process is that Jesus is our “Good Shepherd”. In John 10:14 Jesus says “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me”. God knows us, he knows what we need and what we desire. He also has the power to act as he sees fit. What I need to do in those times of doubt is remind myself of the truths about who God is and take my concerns to God and then be willing to say, as Matthew 6:10 points out, not my will but “your will be done”. And trust in the power and goodness of our Good Shepherd.
-Adam Deering