What does the Bible say about doubt?

Here then we have this most weighty lesson impressed upon the soul of Peter — that even in the presence of Jesus, where the circumstances of trial and of danger, instead of the word of Christ, filled his mind; his heart was utterly powerless, and he was in far more imminent danger than those that were in the boat. No doubt he despised them! They did not dare to go out to meet Jesus! But where was Peter now? Hence you see he was, after all, comparing himself. He was looking at these things, and looking at himself upon the water; he had forgotten Jesus really, and therefore in this agony he cries out, "Lord, save me," and the grace of the Lord at once meets him. "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith." Ah, there was faith then, but it was little faith, and this little faith now became manifest. He thought he was a man of great faith. Now here was exactly the lesson that Peter had to learn. "O thou of little faith." It was himself. It was not Thomas. I do not say that Thomas' faith was not very little, but still, it was not Thomas, it was not John, it was no other, it was Peter. He never thought of it. On the contrary, he was quite sure that he was a man of great faith, and now he has this most wholesome lesson. How humble he would be! How tender with others! He would remember that there was One who had searched the heart and the reins, who had said, "O thou of little faith." And I have not the slightest doubt that the very fact that the Lord pronounced, "O thou of little faith," was the means of his growth in faith. For the thing that hinders us, brethren, at least one great source at any rate, is our conceit of ourselves. We do not think we need to grow; we forget that. We forget our lowliness, and I would speak now, spiritually too, for that was the point. It was not little in any circumstances that belonged to Simon Barjona. It was the little faith of Peter. And so the Lord shows also that which characterises little faith — doubt. There is not a word in the Bible to create a doubt, not one. The Spirit of God never put a doubt into the heart of man. Doubt is of Satan, or of man himself under Satan, if you please, never of the Spirit of God. There is everything to search, everything to humble, to exercise, but to exercise faith; because, beloved friends, what is the root of doubting? Depreciating Christ. Do you think the Holy Ghost ever depreciates the grace of Christ towards even the man of little faith? Here you have the contrary. To whom did Christ manifest His grace more? To the man of little faith most of all. "Wherefore didst thou doubt? They come into the ship, the wind ceases, they arrive on the other side, and, as I have already pointed out, with that result of blessing in the very place of His rejection.

How definite and certain is the word — "It shall be given him." Take note of it, for the more the assurance of it sinks down into our hearts the more ready we shall be to ask wisdom in faith without any "wavering" or "doubting." This simple unquestioning faith, which takes God absolutely at His word, is most necessary. If we doubt we become double-minded, unsteady in all our ways. We become like sea-waves tossed about by every wind, driven first in this direction and then in that, sometimes up and sometimes down. First our hopes run high and then we are filled with forebodings and fears. If this be our condition we may ask for wisdom but we have no ground for expecting it, or anything else, from the Lord.

We rather think that verse 7 is also intended to convey to us this thought; that he who asks of God, and yet asks with a doubting mind, is not likely, whatever he may receive, to take it as from the Lord. Wisdom or guidance or anything else is asked of God. Instead of there being calm reliance upon His word the mind is full of questionings and tossed about between hopes and fears. How can real wisdom and guidance be received? And if any kind of help is granted how can it be received as from God? Does not this go far to explain why so many Christians are troubled over questions concerning guidance? And when God's merciful providence is exercised towards them and things reach a happy issue, they do not see His hand in it and receive it as from Him. They attribute it to their good fortune: they say, as the world would say, "My luck was in!"

When a soul has fairly entered on the path of trials, which faith never fails to experience in a world departed from God, he soon finds his lack of wisdom. But his comfort is that He with Whom he has to do is alone wise, and ready to guide those that wait on Him. How much better it is that wisdom should be in Him that we may be dependent on His guidance, than if it were a possession vested in us, exposed to the danger of our setting up to do without Him! Therefore comes the exhortation to pray (cf. Luke 18:1); for our need is all the greater because we are God's children in a world where all is opposed to God. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all freely and reproacheth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea wind-driven and tossed (for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord): a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (vers 5-8).

Thus the apostle insists upon it here that he who asks should "ask in faith, nothing doubting." Is it hard to do that? We are told immediately how it is that it is hard — whence the doubt comes. "He that doubteth is like a wave of the sea, driven of the wind and tossed" — open to the influences of things around, which the eye contemplates the moment God is not before it. The apostle is very emphatic here. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord." But of what is he speaking? Not of the exercises that an honest soul may have in discerning what the way of the Lord is, but the instability which results from a double mind, the strife of our own wills with God's will, the desire to have Him act according to our mind instead of desiring to act according to His mind. It is plain that we are not in the way to get wisdom so. Yet how much of our prayer is often just this kind of strife with God! and how often there is a thought that if we had only energy of faith in this way, we might really in some sense bend Him to our will! But that would be no blessedness. His will is that which is perfect. To call ours "imperfect" would be to put honor on it.

If you come to look at the promises you will find that there is not one to unbelief. Doubt is no harmless kind of diffidence; it is actually sinful. Indeed I am afraid it often goes further than mere timidity — it is downright unbelief; and this will always hinder prayer. Have we not the words of James? "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." He must have no uncertain feeling about it. How solemn! How calculated to make us ask, "Have I really believed His promises and acted upon them?" If God, in His condescending grace, deigns to give us promises, surely it is not unreasonable to expect us to believe them. Should we not take it as an insult if our word were doubted? If God, the God of truth, pledges us His word, we should believe it to be unmixed truth. A single doubt intruding will mar the prayer. On the other hand the promises to faith are larger than you can conceive. "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Have you ever got to this? — that when you have prayed, you believe that your prayer is heard, and you can accordingly give thanks, awaiting the answer in God's good time.

Doubts about our salvation often result from wanting to feel saved: if we don’t have the proper feelings of joy and peace, then we don’t believe we are saved. But this is the wrong order. Believing comes first, and it must continue without doubting: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13).

WE have frequently had submitted to us, in substance, the following question and remarks, namely, "Why is it that so many sincere Christians never get rid of doubts, fears, and questionings, as to the full assurance of their salvation? Sometimes they seem sure, and are bright and happy, but in a little while they seem depressed, doubt their interest in Christ, and are most unhappy. We know of some who are every now and then on the borders of despair, and even when they do find something like peace, they are in constant terror that it will not last long; so that it can never be said of such that they have true peace or rest."

Again, many doubts are bred in the bosom, because there is not faith in a risen Saviour. Too many linger over the cross as if Jesus were still there. As if He were still a dying and not a living Redeemer. Upon the cross the work was done; by the blood there shed the peace was made; but a living Jesus, a risen Jesus, is the object of faith, and His words to you, as He shows you His hands and His side, are — “Be not faithless, but believing.”

"Unclouded!" we again hear some or other of our readers exclaiming: "this, at all events, is not my experience. I must confess, that clouds often appear to come between God and me, and hide His gracious face from me." But whence, dear reader, come those clouds that hide the sun? Do they come from the sun or from the earth? From the earth of course. And whence comes those clouds of doubt and unbelief, that appear to hide God's face from you? Do they come from God or from you? Certainly, you would not dare to say, they come from God. For it would be nothing less than charging God with that which is the work of the tempter and of the natural evil heart, or of ignorance of our salvation in Christ Jesus. "But," said a lady once to me, "Does not every believer make the experience of such cloudy hours of doubts and uncertainty? And is it not constantly with us a going up and down, as it were? Nay, do not those very doubts and fears prove the existence of spiritual life in us? For if we were unconverted, i.e. spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, we should have no such doubts at all. As our good man said the other day: 'If you never doubt, I doubt of you.'" I answered her in the words of another "good man:" "You might just as well say, If someone has rheumatism or the ague, it is a sign that he is alive: for if he were dead, he would have neither rheumatism nor the ague. But you might just as well live, and much better too, without suffering from those diseases."

Such being the case, how urgent is the warning of verse 12: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God," (or "in falling away from the living God"). He is not speaking of weakness of faith or of failure in details of conduct, but of an evil heart of unbelief, faith not being present at all. This is the cause of falling away, a fall into a state of cold rejection of One previously acknowledged as the Son of God. Only faith can maintain this position of firm confidence in the blessed Son of God; so that a mere lip profession that lacks this vital root of the matter, may very soon give place to a callous reaction of deliberate apostasy, from which there is no recovery: the living God is rejected, and the only alternative is the cold, cheerless state of death.