Summary: I recently read a blog and the writer wrote the following: "A few years ago I felt like prayer had stopped working. In fact, I began to doubt whether it had ever worked at all. I was just talking to myself in an empty room. Quieting myself to "hear" God really didn't work either. In fact, that just made things worse. The longer I waited with nothing happening, the more my anxiety kicked into gear, worrying that God really wasn't going to respond. I know that some Christians go through a season of doubt like this and can't survive. They can't find God and have to give up. In my own case, I held on. I can't make it sound like I did something better. I just ended up in a different place after seeking prayer and counsel from trusted friends and family who walked with me through that season." Ed Cyzewski If we removed from the Bible every person who doubted God, it would be a very short book. Mark 9: 14-29 What is the difference between doubt and unbelief? Are they the same thing? As Guinness in his book God in the Dark was very helpful in breaking this down. He writes, "...to believe is to be "in one mind" about trusting someone or something as true; to disbelieve is to be "in one mind" about rejecting them. To doubt is to waver between the two, to believe and disbelieve at once and so to be ‘in two minds.'" He writes that the "heart of doubt is a divided heart." Unbelief is the "willful refusal to believe or of a deliberate decision to disobey." Doubt says I am having a hard time believing. Unbelief says I refuse to believe. Doubt is honesty. Unbelief is stubbornness. Doubt says I know I could do this if I had the strength. Unbelief says I will not do it. Doubt keeps searching for the light. Unbelief is content with darkness. Doubt says I don't know what God thinks. Unbelief says I don't care what God thinks. Doubt can lead to unbelief. When you doubt, the key is to be aware of the movement of your heart in that direction towards unbelief. Guinness adds, "Continued doubt loosens the believer's hold on the resources and privileges of faith and can be the prelude to the disasters of unbelief." The Downside to Unbelief: And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Mt.13:58 And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching. Mark 6:6 Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mark 16:14 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:19 What Unbelief will not do: What then? If some [fn]did not believe, their [fn]unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? Romans 3:3 Mercy is available: even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; I Tim.1:13 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Rom.11:23 Focus Hopelessness assaults human mind in many surprising ways and anyone who is caught unaware by its intimidating presence, his heart will melt helplessly like a block of ice in the heat of the day. Panic, blunders and emotional breakdown are negative results of being captured by this nerve-racking state. In fact, an early surrender to its sphere of influence means nailing the last nail on its victim's coffin. Beyond doubt, hopelessness is a life-destroyer. Jose Cabjar A quick scan on Acts Chapter 27 is undeniably enough to lead us to realization how hopelessness tried the faith and courage of the Apostle Paul and other men during their sailing to Italy. In Acts 27:20, it is written, And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. (KJV) This Bible passage shows us a glimpse of man's hopelessness during life-threatening moments. Emphatically, it tells us that all hope was taken away. Stanley Jones : "What gets your attention, gets you." If I put a quarter close enough to my eye it can block out the sun. How easy it is to focus on everything that is happening around us and become doubtful. How easy it would be for us to doubt, fear, worry, and give up hope! But Let's look at what Paul Did as an example for us: Acts 27:21-37
