I read this article this morning, it was to good not to share with you. This is a great follow up to our Doubt series we just finished!


Posted by Jud Wilhite:

Remember “Where’s Waldo?” He is a funny looking character with his hat and striped shirt.

Martin Handford is an illustrator who created Waldo, as John Ortberg writes in “God is Closer Than You Think.” He wanted to draw scenes of crowds and as an afterthought the Waldo idea grew where kids had to find Waldo in the crowd. Over 40 million Waldo books have been sold in 28 countries. Waldo is right there on every page, but sometimes you have to look for him, and sometimes you look right at him and don’t realize it.

There are times when we suffer and feel like we are playing a spiritual “Where’s Waldo” game. We keep looking for God, but don’t see Him. We wonder: “Why is it when I pray I don’t always sense God is answering?” “Why do I not always feel his presence in my life? Am I doing something wrong?” “Why is this happening to me?”

Sometimes we look and look and we can’t seem to find God in our trials and we don’t understand. But as you turn to the Bible you see that God is there, on every page of our lives as well. He is there, even in the pain and the hurt and the difficulty. When we can’t make sense of it, when we are looking for God like Waldo and we can’t see him, James says to ask for wisdom.

James 1:5 (NIV): If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Bottom Line: Faith grows when you learn how to view doubt through both what you know and what you’ve been through.

So what do you do when a doubt is too big? How do you handle a doubt that you just can’t seem to move past? You look back. You draw on the things you do know, the things that God has shown you. The things you have learned about Him in the past, both through information and experience. And you hang on to those things you do know, even when you’re left with questions about the things you don’t.

Scripture:
Psalms 13:1-2 & 5-6
Psalms 71:16-17

Once we are able to see what God has done and is doing through both our experience and our knowledge, we are better equipped to manage the doubt.

You know those nagging questions that seem to linger in the back of your mind? The ones you hesitate to ever speak out loud, admit you have, or let anyone else know you think? Questions like: “Does God hear me when I pray?” “Does He have a plan for my life?” “Does God really have everything under control?” Questions and doubts can be unsettling if they are left unsaid. We begin to think we are alone in our doubts, and often our doubts only grow until they paralyze our faith. But when we learn to admit our doubts openly, we learn that we are not the only ones—that everyone deals with it. And when we learn to live with doubt in a healthy way, doubt can be a tool that strengthens our faith.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever doubted God. Everyone got their hands up? That’s because it’s human nature to doubt. It’s just in us to ask questions and to reevaluate. A lot of times doubt gets a bad wrap because of its ability to make us negative, and because we think once we start to entertain it our entire system of belief will collapse. But doubt, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. When used in the proper way, doubt helps us formulate an authentic and personal faith. That’s why it’s important to learn to express our doubts to others and to deal with them in the context of Christian community, so that God can work with our doubts to help strengthen our faith.