Discussing Doubt with Our Creator

"The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that God had made." (Genesis 3:1 CEV)

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I lose sight of just how sly the snake is. We cannot afford to forget that he is always in the room, hanging around the edges of our story, looking for an opportune time to insert his influence. He’s continually trying to convince us that God can’t be trusted.

The snake told Adam and Eve that God was guarding the best fruit for Himself. He insisted that divine nature could be asserted. He tempted them with the very same falsehood he fell from heaven for; you can be like God. The truth is, when we try to be like God, we wind up living like the devil.

What Adam and Eve didn’t understand is that God’s rules are for our benefit. The limitations we rail against actually exist for our well-being. God knows our proclivities and the consequence of indulgence. He set up fences in affection, not dominance.

Our sovereign God knew how it would unfold from the Garden and He still entrusted us with the freedom of choice. He knew how the Fall would hurt us and Creation alike. He lovingly set limitations to protect our souls from trauma and we blew right past them. (First Adam and Eve, and then us!) Thus, we live in a world of hurt, a painful place of our own making.

So how do we guard against the sneaky snake who lives in the edges of our story? How do we insulate our hearts from his onslaught of doubt?

It’s most critical that we identify the enemy’s proximity and plan. We know he’s near and we know what he’s doing. His motives have been made clear in scripture: he steals, kills and destroys. The more distance we keep, the safer we stay.

The easiest way to avoid the enemy’s manipulation is by remaining close to the Creator. If Adam and Eve had stayed in unbroken fellowship with God, He would have been a part of the conversation. Close proximity would have given the first couple a chance to fact-check the snake’s fake news. They could have avoided the angst of sin and shame altogether.

The trouble happened when they lived and worked apart from God. Distance from the divine allowed opportunity for the enemy to sow seeds of doubt. The longer Eve engaged the snake in conversation, the deeper the doubt took root. What if she had ran to God with her questions rather than discussing it with the enemy?

The older I get, the more I understand doubt to be a part of the story. I suspect we’ll wrestle with it until last breath. It’s what we do with our doubt that makes the impact. Do we feed it? Grow it? Let it take over our life? Or do we recognize the source (the sneaky snake) and uproot it by taking our quickly concerns to our affectionate and approachable Creator?

We deal with doubt well when we include God in the conversation, when we bring it to the throne room for immediate discussion. Our Creator-Sustainer is trustworthy. The snake is the deceiver. When we bring our pesky concerns into the presence of God, we get straight answers.

I think of the father in the gospels; the dad with the demon-possessed son. I love how he bares his soul to Jesus, he openly admits his wrestle: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24 NIV)

If we are being brutally honest, we all wrestle with some degree of disbelief. God is not surprised by our secret doubts. He’s omniscient and the darkest shadows of our story are bare before Him. We find help in our doubt when we can be honest about our struggle and bring it out of the darkness. The disbelieving dad received divine reassurance when he had the courage to bring his doubt to the surface. So will we.

Lord, today we admit to our wrestle with doubt. We listen to the lies of the enemy far too easily. We wonder about Your trustworthiness. Please forgive us as we confess our quaking faith. Help us overcome our disbelief. Speak truth into our hearts. Exert Your sovereignty over our situation. Chase the shadows and the snake from our story. May we live in unbroken fellowship with You. Amen.