Author: David Griffith

The Ultimate Reason We Question God: We Doubt God’s Goodness

Is God good?

If God is good, why did my wife, husband, or child get sick?
If God is good, why did You allow them to die?
If God is good, why did my marriage end?
If God is good, why…?

You fill in the blank in your life.
You fill in the hole in your heart.
I have my own holes, scars, and regrets to fill in too.

But why all the “why’s”?

I believe God saw through Thomas’s doubts to his real need with Jesus’ greeting when He appeared to him:
“Peace be with you.”

You see, I don’t believe Thomas actually doubted the resurrection as much as he lacked peace in his life. It had been eight days since Jesus had appeared to the other ten disciples, and the whole town had to be buzzing with rumors. No, Thomas hadn’t actually seen Jesus yet—but he had to be wondering. He was uneasy. He lacked peace in his soul.

Interestingly, in the original Greek text, the word “be” doesn’t exist—it’s added in translation for smoother understanding. The actual phrase is:
“Peace with you.”

Jesus knew that Thomas was in a place of unrest. So PEACE came to be with Thomas.

Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6.
And He said in John 14:27:

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

Ahhh—there it is.

We (okay, I) doubt God because we are fearful of outcomes. And because of that fear, we lack the peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7).

But Jesus is that peace.

Peace isn’t a thing or a feeling. It’s not a destination reached after years of sanctification.
Peace is a person.

Peace is someone we can get to know better and better every day—by reading His Word and interacting with The Word who became flesh (John 1).

Peace is a personal relationship with the Spirit who is:
Love, joy, PEACE, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).

And as we spend time with Peace, we will begin to reflect Him in our daily lives—even when the day is devastating.

Our doubts stem from a superficial relationship with Peace Himself.

So start spending more time with PEACE, and watch as the doubts diminish and the peace progresses! (See what I did there? 😊)

We become like those we spend time with.
Do you want to be peaceful?
Then hang out with PEACE—and watch the doubts die! (Did it again. 😉)

Cause #3 for Our Doubts: We Question God’s Omnipresence

Where is God, exactly?
A six-year-old would probably say, “God is in heaven.”
Good answer! Maybe even a great answer.
But is God confined to heaven?

Sometimes, I think He is—that He’s not with me in my struggle, not with me in my pain.
But that’s not true, is it?

King David (my namesake, by the way) answered this question from a very personal perspective in Psalm 139:1–10:

“O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me.
Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up;
Thou dost understand my thought from afar.
Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And art intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all.
Thou hast enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Thy hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go from Thy Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Thy hand will lead me,
And Thy right hand will lay hold of me.”

We’ve all probably heard the story of the man who arrives in heaven and meets Jesus. Jesus welcomes him with a visual depiction of his life—footprints in the sand along a seashore: his footprints and Jesus’. But during a particularly difficult time, there’s only one set of footprints. The man, distraught, asks why Jesus would abandon him in his pain.

Jesus answers, full of compassion:

“It was during this time, my child, that I carried you.”

And so it is.
Our God is ALWAYS with us.
He exists outside of time and space—because He is time and space.
He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
And He loves us too much to ever abandon us, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in.

So we can check off Cause #3 for doubting Him.
Only one remains—and we’ll look at it tomorrow!

Cause #2 for Our Doubts: We Question God’s Omnipotence

Again, we don’t want to say this one out loud, but practically speaking, we do this all the time—at least I do.

When my late wife developed epilepsy just 17 days after we were married, I had all the faith in the world in God’s power to heal her. I always prayed, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” But I didn’t mean it. I wanted my will to be done. I wanted my wife to be well.

God said no.

I figured He was just producing faith in me and my children—and that He would eventually heal her in His time.
I was wrong.

Debbie never did get better. In fact, she got worse and worse until, after 28 and a half years of praying, He took her home to be with Him.

There was a four-year period about 20 years in when I truly questioned God’s power to heal. Maybe He had just turned it over to the doctors—except in extreme situations or for exceptionally faithful believers. But not for me. Not for her.

But then I realized:
GOD HAD HEALED HER.

He had done it in His time and in His way. She had received the ultimate healing and was now in Paradise with Him.

And that is the ultimate power statement, isn’t it?
For apart from the power of the resurrection, we would have no hope. Jesus raised the dead, healed the lame, gave sight to the blind, and cast out demons with a word. Jesus appeared to Thomas—and the other disciples—out of nothing. Locked doors and thick walls couldn’t stop Him from accomplishing His purposes.

And neither can epilepsy, or dementia, or MS.

Our God is ruler over all because of His omnipotence.

Check off Cause #2 for doubting Him.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Cause #3!

Cause #1 for Our Doubts: We Question God’s Omniscience

Basically—and not so basically—we question whether God knows everything. Specifically, I question whether God knows everything about my life at this moment in time. And if He does, does He even care?

Now, I would never admit this out loud, because I know that He cares for me. He tells me He does in 1 Peter 5:7:
“…casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” (Personalized by me.)

But do I always live out my known doctrine? Does my knowledge manifest itself in my life on a daily basis—on a moment-to-moment basis? To get right down to it:
Do I feel His hand upon my angst, or is it just head knowledge?

(I just read back over that last line, and I’m humbled—and not just a little ashamed—that I wrote it, or even thought it in the first place. After all, what is wrong with head knowledge? If you’re like me, there have been numerous times on life’s journey when I have not felt Jesus—but I knew He was right there in the midst of my anxiety, my doubt, my pain. And in most every case, knowing He was there was the anchor that held my faith through the storm until my heart could catch up.)

Does God know everything about me—and you?
ABSOLUTELY.
And He proves it to Thomas in verses 25 and 27. Jesus wasn’t in the room when Thomas stated his ultimatum:

“Unless I can touch His nail-scarred hands and spear-pierced side, I will not believe!” (Dave’s interpretation)

Yet eight days later, when Thomas and Jesus are together in the room, Jesus cashes the ultimatum check by saying:

“Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side.”
THOMAS, I KNOW EVERYTHING. YOU CAN TRUST IN ME.

And you know what? Jesus knows everything about you and me as well.
And we can trust Him—because He is omniscient.

We can trust the One who is not bound by time, or space, or even our doubts.
He is all-knowing.
And, as my friend Steve Brown used to say,

“…and He likes you anyway.”

After all, Jesus died knowing everything about me—before I was even born.
Check off Cause #1 for doubting Him.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at Cause #2!

Is it just me, or has Thomas gotten a bad rap over the last 2,000+ years? I mean, which of the other disciples had to take the others at their word when they said, “We have seen the Lord,” and then act on that testimony? None—that’s how many! All the other disciples actually saw the Lord after His resurrection.

I don’t know about you, but I believe I would have been in Thomas’ camp. I would have forever carried the nickname “Doubting Dave.” (It actually has a better ring than “Doubting Thomas,” doesn’t it?) And rightfully so, because my life has been riddled with doubt.

So I ask myself (and by association, you): “Self, what is doubt, really?”
The American Heritage Dictionary defines doubt as:

1. To be undecided or skeptical about.

2. To tend to disbelieve; distrust.

3. To regard as unlikely.

4. To suspect; fear.
   A lack of certainty that leads to irresolution. A lack of trust. The condition of being uncertain or unresolved.

That’s pretty descriptive of my thoughts and meditations when it comes to trusting the Lord in all things, Dave!

What doubt—and by association, faith—comes down to is this:
Do I trust God with my life?
Do I trust Him with the diagnosis?
Do I trust Him with my businesses?
Do I trust God with my finances, my family, my children, and grandchildren?

Do I? Do you?
Have you heard the testimony of a trusted advisor and still failed to trust Him fully? I have.
Have you had your Heavenly Father come through for you before, yet this time you’re just not sure He’s up for the task? Me too.

So this week, please walk with me as we explore the causes of our doubts. I promise—the journey will be unsettling, but worth it!

When Jesus appeared to the disciples the night after His resurrection, Thomas was not in the room. His friends—who were like brothers to him—told Thomas they had seen Jesus and that He was alive, but Thomas doubted what he heard.

After all, he had seen Jesus crucified and buried. His eyes had not been opened, and his mind had not yet been given the ability to understand. Thomas was in the dark—spiritually.

But God (my favorite preamble in any verse of the Bible) made a special trip back eight days later, just to see Thomas and open his eyes.

Thomas had said he wouldn’t believe unless he could actually touch Jesus’ scars—so Jesus came back and gave him the opportunity to do just that.

But Thomas didn’t reach out his hand to touch the scars in Jesus’ hands and side.

When Thomas saw the Lord—made possible only because Jesus sought him out—he was no longer blind, dumb, or doubting.

The Resurrection is important because it is the capstone of all of Scripture. It’s the final scene in the grand play of our existence.

The resurrection of Jesus seals all the other miracles into a six-hour and three-day window of proof that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life—and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

The Resurrection abolishes all other paths to salvation. It is the closing argument in the trial for the soul of humanity—my soul, and yours.

When I have doubts about Jesus, I look first to the cross, and then to the empty tomb—and I am reassured.

So…
Is your heart burning within you?
Is your Lord and your God breathing on you to receive the Spirit?
Has Jesus come to you—outside your tomb of despair, along your road, into your fear, just to show you His hands and side?
Has He been opening your mind to understand the Scriptures and to believe in His name?

Then you have SEEN the Lord.

Run and tell the others. 🙂

This is another account of the meeting with the disciples on the day Jesus specifically appeared to Mary Magdalene, the two men walking to Emmaus, and the disciples in their hideaway.

But Luke, it seems, was given a little more color commentary by one of the disciples who was there. As a doctor by trade, Luke likely remembered and noted additional details.

Jesus reminds everyone that He had been foretold in the Law of Moses, prophesied by both the major and minor prophets, and proclaimed extensively in the Psalms by all the writers.

He’s essentially saying, “I’ve been in this story all along.” His resurrection wasn’t a plot twist—it was the plan since before time as we know it began.

And still, they didn’t have a clue what He was talking about—until verse 45:

“Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

And what follows is both a reminder and a charge, which they now finally understood:

“Thus it is written (in the Old Testament) that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.”

Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, opens our minds to understand Scripture (see also 1 Corinthians 2:14–16). And when He does, our natural response becomes that of a proclaimer—announcing repentance and forgiveness of sins, but only in His name.

(Remember, only Jesus is kind of a big deal.)

Is understanding the Scriptures difficult?
Is seeing Jesus in the Old Testament a challenge?

Then ask Him to open your mind to understand what He wants you to know—what you need to know in that moment.

He will make a special visit to do just that.

On the same day, when the two men had hustled back to Jerusalem, in the evening, Jesus finally made a special house call (or hideout call) to His disciples. Again, Jesus took the initiative to go to Peter, James, John, and the others—to open their eyes.

When the disciples saw His hands and His side, they rejoiced. Then Jesus gave them a most special gift: He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” giving them authority to forgive the sins of others.

Basically, He gave them both the authority and the responsibility to go and tell the world, “I have seen the Lord!” Jesus was commissioning them for His ministry. He was drafting them into His service.

If Jesus has appeared to you in such a way that you have rejoiced upon seeing Him, then you have been commissioned into His service.

My joy (rejoicing) and my responsibility (as simple as it is) is to tell others that I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!

And so it is with you, who call Jesus Savior.

Do you remember what it was like when Jesus was not understandable to you—as you cowered in your hidden life—and then suddenly, Jesus stood before you, even when you thought the door to your heart was shut and locked (verse 19)?

Do you remember rejoicing when you saw the Lord? (verse 20) That was the moment Jesus revealed Himself to you, when your eyes were opened and you understood.

Do you remember?

If so—GO, and tell everyone!

That very same day, two men—Cleopas and Simon (not Peter)—were going to Emmaus for some reason. Maybe they had family there. Maybe they had business there. Maybe it was just time to get back to real life since Jesus was no longer with them (though they had heard the rumors of the empty tomb).

No one knows, but Jesus knew. Jesus knew them and had a plan for them. Like so many times before, Jesus went out of His way to appear to those who would be saved, and to open their eyes so that they could see Him.

These two men were apparently also disciples of Jesus. They were called “two of them,” referring back to the disciples from the previous passage where the eleven were mentioned. I guess there were more than just the eleven huddled together.

These two men had walked with Jesus, and talked with Jesus, and heard His preaching to the multitudes. They had even heard His explanations of the parables later. Their eyes had beheld the Lord, and their ears had heard the audible sound of Jesus’ voice—but they had not seen Him or understood Him!

Do you come to church, or your small group, or maybe a more in-depth study of Scripture, and leave without having seen Jesus or having understood what He wanted you to hear? I know that I have.

Usually, it’s because the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the boastful pride of life (1 John 2:15–17) has blinded my eyes or deadened my hearing. Sometimes I’m just going through the motions of life—walking to Emmaus and talking about Jesus—but not recognizing Him when He talks to me, when He approaches me.

In those moments, I realize I’m more in love with the world than I am with my risen Lord. It’s in these times that I become unconcerned about the miraculous importance of Jesus rising again.

But I know that He lived for me.
I know that He died for me.
And I know that He rose again—just for me!

So much so that I want to arise and return to the eleven and those with them (those closest to me) and tell them, “The Lord has truly risen!”

There are so many reasons why the resurrection of Jesus is important to my Christian faith—and yours. It proves to me, and to the whole world, that Jesus is who He said He is. But the most important reason for me is that His resurrection allows me to see the Lord, just as Mary did.

Spiritual vision is not a given; it is a product of grace. Let’s think about that together for a few days.

Mary, along with Mary the mother of James and others, came to the tomb following the Sabbath to anoint Jesus’ body and prepare it for burial. Jesus had told His disciples—including the women—on several occasions, that He would be betrayed into the hands of evil men, that He would be crucified and that He would die, but that on the third day He would rise again. This was a theme throughout His three-year ministry.

Yet not Mary, nor the disciples tucked away in an upper room hiding, remembered it. Or, if they remembered it, they did not believe it. And from a human perspective, who could blame them? They had watched it all unfold and had run away (at least most of the men did). They saw with their physical eyes that Jesus was dead and now buried in a borrowed tomb.

But Mary was allowed to see Jesus with spiritual eyes. In verse 14 of this text, Mary’s eyes were still closed to the truth Jesus had taught about rising again. But when He called her by name, Mary’s eyes were opened—and she could see Jesus, maybe for the very first time.

So that is my observation and interpretation of this story.

So what is the application of it? Here goes:

• Does the weight of life keep me from seeing Jesus in my life?
• Am I looking into the tomb of despair and feeling broken, not exhilarated by its emptiness—even when the pain of loss lingers?
• Am I excited to tell the others that I HAVE SEEN THE LORD, and that He has RISEN, JUST AS HE SAID?

Has Jesus opened your eyes?