This is the last part of a 5 part series, dealing with doubt. In my experience, people say that the concept of God doesn’t make any sense, for two main reasons. One of those reasons is that an all-powerful being just speaking the universe and humanity into existence out of nothing simply makes no sense. I dealt with that in part 1 of this series. The other reason that people tend to doubt the existence of God is the question of why, if He exists, does God let bad things happen to good people. I discussed that in parts 2 and 3 of this series. Those first 3 parts were mostly intended to help people who doubted the existence of God to come to believe in His existence, though believers and nonbelievers alike may have found them helpful. Parts 4 and 5 are primarily focused on helping Christians to deal with doubt in their lives. Part 4 mostly focused on not letting the doubt, in itself, derail us in our walk with Him. Now, in part 5, we will talk about the doubt that arises when we push on through the initial doubt and things still don’t go like we want or like we had planned.
You may know of the poem “Footprints in the Sand”. In the poem, someone is walking down a beach with Jesus. They see scenes from their life walking with Him. They see the two sets of footprints in the sand, belonging to both them and Jesus. They notice that, at the lowest points and hardest times, there is only one set of footprints. They ask Jesus why He would leave them at their lowest times. Jesus says that He would never leave them. He says “My child, it was then that I carried you”. That’s beautiful, isn’t it? I’ve seen an alternate version of the poem that adds a little more. The person then asks Jesus “What about that rut in the sand right there”. Jesus says “My child, it was then that I drug you”. LOL. Do you know that feeling, like He’s been with you, for sure, but maybe you’ve been drug rather than carried? Yeah, me too. But, either way, He gets us there and, either way, it’s in His strength. We must keep holding on to Him.
Much of today’s Christian culture likes to focus on the sentiment conveyed in the original version of the poem. However, the reality of true Christian living often more resembles the additional part of the second version, about feeling like we’re being drug rather than carried. Jesus did not say that following Him would be easy. On the contrary, He said it would be hard. He also said that, in His strength, we can do it. John 16:33 says “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”.
Jesus didn’t say we might have tribulation. He said that we would have tribulation. However, too often, today’s Christian church doesn’t talk much about the tribulation and, as Christians, we tend to spend too much of our spiritual focus and energy on trying to avoid it.
One verse that many people, including me, love to quote is Romans 8:28, which tells us that He works all things for good in the life of a Christian. That is absolutely true. I can personally testify to that Truth. He works “all things” for good but some of those “all things”, while they are being worked, don’t feel good. The word “Christian” means “Christ like”. As we follow Him, we are supposed to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3) and, as His followers, sometimes we are too.
I am reminded of a time in my life, 28 years ago as of this writing, that did not feel good and still doesn’t. I was 19 years old. I had been well past legally blind for all my life and I faced a surgery that, if it went wrong, had the potential to take all the vision that I had. I was a Christian, had been for 8 years, and I prayed for my vision to be spared. I prayed, first and foremost, with difficulty, for His will, not mine, to be done. My vision was not spared and I faced years of additional surgeries and complications and physical pain. I also faced related educational and employment struggles and other hardships. In many ways, the last 28 years have not been pleasant. There is no question that it was only by His strength that I was able to make it through much of what I have gone through. It was He Who got me through it. However, during much of that time, it felt as though He was dragging me, rather than carrying me, still definitely by His strength, but definitely not fun.
However, He has worked in my adversity. The things I have gone through have caused me to lean on Him more and so have helped to mature me, spiritually. The pain I have gone through has allowed me to speak of His goodness to others, in the midst of their own pain. The hardships I have gone through have caused some to ask how I deal with it, giving me the opportunity to speak yet more of His goodness. To keep with this analogy, you may be reading this and thinking something like “You speak of His goodness and yet He drug you when He had the power to carry you so how good can He be?”. That’s a fair question. I would like to ask you a fair question in return. In the midst of whatever pain you may be going through, how much more weight do you give my words here because I have been through my own pain? Financial advisor Dave Ramsey says “Don’t take financial advice from broke people”. Similarly, how much weight can you give to the words of someone who speaks to you of walking through adversity with Him, if they have had none of their own adversity?
Let’s extend this thought to Jesus Himself. How can He speak to us of walking through adversity? He can, for one thing, because He is God, but also because He knows what it is to go through the things we do.
Hebrews 4
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
He went through everything we go through, was tempted in every way that we are, and yet, did not sin. Even though He did not sin, He was punished for sin, our sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Christ never sinned but he took our sins on himself and Romans 5:8 says that He died as punishment for those sins. In so doing, He bought our right to come before Him, for help, in our times of need, when we ourselves go through these things. That was unimaginably hard. Even just the preparation for that was hard. Think about what He went through, as He prayed in the garden, just before His crucifixion. Read Luke 22:41-44.
Luke 22
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,
42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.
44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
In verse 43, in response to His prayer, an angel appeared and strengthened Him. Even after the angel strengthened Him, Jesus still wasn’t comfortable with what was about to happen. Verse 44 says that He was in agony and He began to pray even more earnestly and, as He did that, His sweat became like drops of blood. This is not a figure of speech. Although it is very rare, sweat containing blood is a real medical phenomena. It is called hematidrosis and occurs when someone is under very extreme stress, much more than a person normally ever experiences. In those moments, Jesus was probably facing what was required of Him, in order to purchase our freedom, to a greater degree than He had ever done before. After all, at this point, it was only hours away. Jesus wanted, if possible, for this to be done another way (verse 42). However, there was no other way and Jesus was completely obedient to the Father’s will. This led to more suffering than anyone has ever endured but it also led to our redemption through the shedding of His blood. In shedding that blood, He bought the right for us to come boldly before God in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16) and cast all our anxiety upon Him (1 Peter 5:7).
Like Him, we must be willing to say “Not my will but Yours”. It is natural for us to prefer the easy way. However, it is often the hard way that God uses to make a positive difference. Sometimes, His way is the hard way. In fact, His way was the hard way. If we are truly going to become more like Him, we must be willing to go the hard way, to be drug rather than carried.
Are you willing to be drug, if that is His will? Do you care more about letting Him work through you, to make a positive difference in the world, than ease and comfort for yourself? It is not natural for us to feel that way. What He does in our life is not natural. What is natural, by definition, is what is dictated by our nature, which is sinful and selfish. What he does in our life is supernatural. He gives us the power to overcome that sinful and selfish nature, to want to live in a way that means the good of others over the good of ourselves, which ultimately works for our good. He gives us the power to, like Him, sincerely say “not My will, but Yours, be done”. Then, He blesses us through that. If you are not at the point where you can sincerely say that, ask Him to help you with that. He will. Then, watch what He does in your life and in the lives of others through you, as a result. You will be glad you did. Trust me on that. Trust Him. If you want to learn more about how to begin to do that, to have a personal relationship with Him, please check out the “The Most Important Thing” section of the SDM website.
