Title: Doubt and Faith (Luke 1:5-7)
Contents
*** Doubt and Faith / Luke 1:5-7
***Introduction
Belief and doubt are opposite concepts, but in real life, they are neighbors with a single wall as the boundary.
Although God was willing to share a room with the most trusted people, he spent the whole night in discomfort and sin because of a small doubt. Isn't it a sin to doubt each other? Doubt is a neighbor you can meet if you take one step from the place of faith. Neither Peter, who was walking on the water, nor Thomas, who did not see the risen Lord in person, could not escape from this doubt.
This can also be seen in the text. Let's get into the text.
1. Doubt drives out faith and darkens a person's spirit.
In the Bible, there are people who have been recognized as righteous by God. Among them, there is a person named ‘Zacharias’ who is in the transitional period, ending the Old Testament era and opening the New Testament era. He is the father of John the Baptist and the protagonist of this hour.
Zacharias had no children with his wife, Elizabeth. Zacharias lived a flawless life in the sight of God, even though the circumstances of her life were not very good. God used him to do great things that made a big mark in world history. It was the role of closing the door of history to close the Old Testament era represented by the law. In addition, his son ‘John the Baptist’, whom he obtained through prayer in his old age, became the basis for opening a new chapter in the New Testament era.
In this way, Zacharias, who was recognized as a righteous man by God and was used in great works, was no exception in doubt. Zacharias had no children. At that time, childlessness was a serious matter because it was considered a curse from God. Even the fertility of children became a measure of God's blessings.
However, the deepest worry of the Zacharias is that they have reached an age where they can no longer have children. All human hope is gone. Even a person of faith is troubled when human hope disappears. It must have been heartbreaking for Zacharias to be cut off as a priestly family. Now, it was worrying that the sacred office had to end in one's own way.
From a human point of view, it makes perfect sense. But, why did Zacharias, a man of faith called even the righteous, not trust in God's power? Zacharias prayed a lot to God about this. In verse 13, the angel said, “Your supplication has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.” Still, why couldn't you trust God?
This is because Zacharias was obsessed with the human environment. Zacharias said to the angel who answered his prayer, “How do I know this? I am old, and my wife is also old.” To cling to human circumstances is to turn against the power of God. Could it not have been that Zacharias did not know that the faith that transcends circumstances allowed Abraham to obtain Isaac? In this way, doubt enters into people's environment and darkens their spirits.
2. Doubt makes people suffer.
Let's go a little past the text and look at verses 18-20. “Zacharias said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? I am old, and my wife is old.’ The angel answered and said, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands before God. I have been sent to tell you this good news. Purple. Until the day these things come to pass, you will be dumb and unable to speak, because you do not believe my words, but in due time my words will be fulfilled.’”
The priests were divided into 24 divisions according to their families and took turns to perform the sacrifices (cf. 2 Chronicles 35:4-6). It was the turn of the house of Zacharias to burn incense in the sanctuary. While Zacharias was burning incense in the sanctuary, she met the angel Gabriel. The angel informed Zacharias that his wife, Elizabeth, was pregnant. But Zacharias was not quick to agree. In other words, Zacharias could not accept the impossible reality. Zacharias did not trust God who transcends circumstances. It was the environment we were faced with that both he and his wife were past the age to conceive a child.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” In other words, faith transcends circumstances. Thomas, who had only heard of the resurrection of Jesus, insisted, “I must see it with my own eyes and feel it with my own senses to believe.” To Thomas, who was imprisoned in this way, Jesus told him to show and feel himself. Then he said, “Do you believe because you saw me? Blessed are those who have not seen and believe.” Moses, too, repeatedly refused his vocation, insisting on the circumstances that he could not speak coherently. The frustrated God said, “Who made man's mouth? Who made the dumb or the deaf or the bright or the blind? Am I not Yahweh?” He repeatedly emphasized that God is the Creator.
That's right. Failure to transcend the environment is not trusting in God who controls the environment. Such unbelief is accompanied by human suffering. Zacharias was temporary, but it had to be mute. Thomas had to be limited from the blessings of God. Moses had to share the glory that had been given to him with Aaron, and as a result, his rulership had to be weakened and suffered. This doubt, that is, unbelief in God, leads to loss and suffering in life.
3. Faith alone dispels doubt.
At the end of Luke chapter 1, Zacharias, who had a son, was moved by the Holy Spirit to prophesy. And we praise God for showing mercy to Israel and sending the promised Messiah to their ancestors.
God restored Zacharias' faith. Although Zacharias doubted when she did not understand, she obeyed thoroughly after experiencing the power of God. We too fall into this doubt. But we must quickly restore our faith. This is the attitude of those who fear God.
Doubt can only be driven out by faith. A father who came to be healed of his demon-possessed son made a dubious request to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, if you can do anything, heal my son.” Then Jesus said, “What do you mean if you can? Nothing is impossible for those who believe.” The dubious father of the sick man immediately confessed, “Help me in my unbelief.” You just need to ask God for faith that casts out doubts.
A woman of considerable beauty had an accident one day and the skin around her eyes shriveled and shriveled. She was full of spirits and continued to watch the line after that, but she was rejected every time. Unexpectedly, she went to a famous makeup academy, learned how to make-up to hide those scars, barely concealed her scars, and got married to a man after seeing the line.
However, since my husband goes out for business every day at dawn, she always had to get up at dawn to put on makeup, and she used to push her husband's rear car hard from behind. The problem was when I was sweating. Even if my husband offered to wipe it, I was always refusing to get caught, so I would carefully wipe it away, avoiding the area around my eyes. Then one day, it rained like a torrential downpour, and on that day, without exception, my husband tried to wipe his face. After a moment's hesitation, the woman reached out with a thought, 'You'll get caught someday anyway!' However, my husband took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped off the rainwater except around the eyes.
God knows that my faith is weak. All you have to do is humbly present it to God. There are no righteous people in the world. Even if you are righteous, there will always be faults.
God knows that we are faulty and weak. But he has mercy on those who confess it. Even today, we can doubt God's grace and power with our worries, worries, and various concerns, but we must not go to the point of receiving God's chastisement because our doubts are linked to sin. So let's always confess our weaknesses and seek God's help. Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will achieve a thrilling life with God's help every day, rather than the loss and pain of life.