No Other Rock

But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel . . . ~ Luke 24:21

Do you ever doubt? Do you ever doubt in God? His Existence? His Plan?

You wouldn’t be the first, and you certainly won’t be the last. I encourage you to read all of Luke 24 for excellent insight on God and doubt. But Baxter’s devotion for the day takes a much different direction that I want to explore here.

He presents the idea that doubt is really about sadness and that it differs from unbelief. “There seemed no longer a foundation for their faith or hope; and because they were honest doubters they were sad men.”

Men and women who are in doubt about God and/or Christianity and about vital concerns of their souls are most often unhappy people. Such doubt may prompt other attitudes and behaviors; but its root is in sadness.

What blood is to the body, faith is to the soul. We are so constituted that until the mind can rest itself by faith in guaranteed certainties there is no real joy for us. Apart from an intelligent faith in God, in the fundamental goodness and ultimate rightness of things, deep peace and bounding gladness are impossible to us…

But this doubt is different from unbelief. Doubt is a state of suspense in which the mind concluded whether to accept or reject. Unbelief is total negation - and often, people who doubt will turn to unbelief to escape the sense of doubt.

But unbelief is equally unsatisfying because it is a negative blank and is therefore sterile. Fortunately, just as there was no reason for the two men to doubt - there’s no reason we should doubt either. He is just as real today as He was back then.

Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will refuse to doubt and always choose to follow Jesus.