Monday, February 11, 2008

Experiencing Doubt


Do ever suffer from doubt? Do you ever struggle through your faith, wondering if it’s real? If the practice of your faith is worth it – if it’s even the truth?

I think it’s a natural occurrence. I think everyone has doubts from time to time. I have read from several of the Saints of the Catholic Church, Church fathers, and many writers considered to be the best theologians of their day. Almost without an exception, each one writes of difficult times and struggles in their faith.

Just a few months ago, news broke of a new writing found from Mother Theresa, where she wrote of some struggles in her faith. If a giant of the faith like Mother Theresa struggled with doubt, don’t be surprised when it happens to you.

We see doubts of faith in Scripture, as well. I think of the Psalms, where David is almost arguing with God in some of the Psalms of Lament. But even more than David, I think of David’s son, Solomon, described in Scripture as the wisest man who ever lived. Here is a quote that I came across recently (I forgot now where I read it):

The word meaningless appears in the Bible thirty-eight times, thirty-five of these in the book of Ecclesiastes. “It’s a strange thing that the man the Hebrews knew as the wisest person who ever lived, is the one who struggled the most with doubt.”
Over and over again Solomon writes that everything is meaningless. But in the end, He found that all that we can do is to love God, and find our purpose through Him.

Solomon’s example is an example that will find true in our own lives. So many things can seem meaningless. It’s only through surrendering our lives to God that will bring meaning to our lives.

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