Is it okay to have doubts sometimes?
Yes. Doubt is not the same as unbelief: unbelief is a settled refusal of Christ, while doubt is a question that still wants Him. Scripture shows believers struggling, asking, even demanding answers, and Jesus met them with gentleness, not distance. Bring your doubts to Him, and hold the promise while the feelings waver.
This question arose from studying What is faith, exactly? and Can I lose my salvation?.
Begin by reading
Go into the Word
Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
Doubt is not the same as unbelief
Unbelief is a settled decision that Christ is not worth trusting; doubt is an open question that is still reaching for Him. The father in Mark 9 brought both at once: 'I believe. Help my unbelief!' and Jesus did not scold him for the honesty; He healed his son. A struggling faith is still faith, so long as it is still looking to Christ.
Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
Often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Honest doubt brought to Jesus is welcomed
Thomas demanded to see the nail marks, yet he stayed with the disciples, and Jesus came to him and offered exactly what he asked for. Even John the Baptist, from a prison cell, asked through his disciples, 'Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?' Jesus answered by pointing to His works, and blessed the one who finds no occasion for stumbling in Him. Doubt is safe in His hands.
Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”
Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me,you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”
and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”
Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
God is not threatened by our questions
Asaph ended envious and confused about why the wicked prosper, and he said plainly that his feet had almost slipped. Yet he brought it into the sanctuary, into the presence of God, and there his understanding cleared. James tells the one who lacks wisdom to ask God, who gives generously without reproach. Bring the hard questions to Him rather than burying them or letting them drive you away.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped.
When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me; Until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
Faith finally rests on a Person, not on answers
Paul's confidence was not that he had resolved every question but that he knew the One he had trusted: 'I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him.' Faith is assurance of things hoped for: it holds to Christ when the answers are slow. And nothing, Paul insists, can separate us from His love.
For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
The danger is a doubt that refuses Christ, not one that seeks Him
The warning in Scripture is not against asking questions; it is against a double-mindedness that will not commit, a faith tossed like a wave. Doubt that drives you back to Christ is an invitation; doubt that keeps you away from Him is a danger to resist. Keep returning to the Word, to the Body of Christ, and to His table, and bring the wavering heart to the One who strengthens the weak, holding the faith that, though tested by fire, is more precious than gold.
But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
On some have compassion, making a distinction,
Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me,you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”
Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.
Worth visiting