Trust in the Lord
Never Doubt

The Scriptures clearly explain the Lord should never be doubted and one should never follow their own understanding. Proverbs 3:5‑8 (ESV) 'Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.' This scripture clearly explains how to trust Him and what can be gained if we do. Never believe in the flesh, it leads to pride which God dislikes.

Trust in the Lord is very basic; an essential thing to our spiritual life. This leads to two questions

1) How do we achieve 'trust in the Lord'?

2) What are challenges that need to be understood in order to trust in the Lord?

Here are some biblical heroes or examples to help understand the challenges of those who had doubts in their spiritual path;

Zechariah & Elizabeth

In the New Testament Luke 1:6 says they were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations. The noble couple, Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John Baptist, were worried because they had no children. They were praying to God about their sorrow one day in the temple of Lord and there appeared an angel of the Lord Luke 1:11‑13'Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John." (NIV)

The Scriptures clearly say that he was a righteous man and they were praying to God to have a child. When he heard the good news from the angel called Gabriel in the Temple he should have been happy. But actually he doubted and asked for clarification. Luke 1:18 (NIV) 'Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."'

Since he did not trust with his whole heart the word of God he was given the punishment of being dumb and deaf for some time because he didn't believe the word of God. Luke 1:19‑20 (NIV) 'The angel said to him, "l am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time."'

John the Baptist

John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah, was richly blessed with the spirit even from his mother's womb. His birth and work was great in God's sight. He completely led his life according to God's plan;

Firstly he identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29)

Secondly he said that Jesus was "Preferred before me" (John 1:30‑31).

Thirdly he saw the Holy Spirit (John 1:32‑33).

Fourthly he called Jesus the Son of God (John 1:34).

John 1:29‑34 (NlV) "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." Then John gave this testimony: "l saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One."

But after he had been cast into prison for criticizing King Herod for marrying his brother's wife, an incestuous relationship, and had been confined there for some time he had doubts about Jesus and what he saw. So he sent his disciples. Luke 7: 20 'When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?"' Even our Lord Jesus mentioned in Luke 7:28 he was the greatest prophet in God's plan, even though he had doubted. All this doubt happened because they did not trust the Lord completely for various reasons and following their own understanding.

Peter

What Jesus said about this kind of belief can be seen from the event that happened to the apostle Peter as recorded in Matthew 14:28‑31 (NIV) "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water". "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" This is the reason for doubt; Peter wanted to come to Jesus and he asked for permission and Jesus said come, then he jumped onto the water, but in the middle he was afraid, because his eyes saw the wind instead of Jesus. This is the same for us when we start walking towards Christ in this life, we might get the same challenges, if we start to see the problems, then our eyes may be away from Jesus and he may say the same words to us, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt'.

A worse situation in this case would be to try to get back to the ship to protect ourselves from the wind, ignoring Christ completely and believing in the flesh. This is very pathetic and like the Israelites who in the wilderness on their way to Canaan thought about going back to Egypt in order to save themselves. They doubted the Lord and were rejected by the Lord, forbidden from entering the Promised Land.

Thomas

The apostle Thomas is well known for doubting (John 20:25) "So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he (Thomas) said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." When Jesus came again after 8 days and they were all assembled, he clearly explained the importance and blessings of trust based on faith when he said "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29 NIV)

The Early Church

Then finally example of our early church period is King Herod Agrippa. He killed the apostle James, the brother of the apostle John. (Acts 12:1‑2 NIV) "It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword."

Next he proceeds to try to kill the apostle Peter to please some Jews, as he was trying to get the support of Jewish leaders, fame and to stabilise his rule. So he arrested Peter and was planning to put him to death after The Passover. Therefore the other apostles and followers joined together and started to pray earnestly for Peter (Acts 12:5). What happened in the night is well known. Peter was set free by the angel of the Lord and went to the house of Mary, where others were praying for him. Acts 12:13‑15 (NIV) "Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"

"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." They were praying for the apostle Peter, but when he was set free by God, they thought they had seen his angel, meaning he was not any more. Why was this? Because they already had prayed for the apostle James, and he had been killed? They had the same thought and expectation for Peter rather than thinking of God's plan.

Summary

In these few examples of doubt in the New Testament by God's loving people. Firstly we see Zechariah due to his age doubted. Secondly John the Baptist after he had been arrested when his situation in life changed being in prison influenced his mind and he had doubt about Jesus being Christ. Then Thomas even though he had listened to all Jesus' promises about his resurrection and even though his fellow brethren conveyed to him the news about Jesus' resurrection, didn't believe. Finally all the apostles, those who were anointed by the Holy Spirit after they saw the death of the apostle James, doubted and were not able to see with their spiritual eyes God's plan.

All this doubt happened because God's people for various reasons did not trust in the Lord completely. They followed their "own understanding".

The message is to focus on Christ in our life, completely obey his words and in this way show complete trust in our spiritual life. The best examples are the apostles Peter and Paul. They were wrong and had doubt in the beginning of their spiritual lives; Peter even denied Jesus; Paul had the wrong knowledge about God and His plan until he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus. But they overcame and finished their 'race', with a very high spiritual life. The Scriptures clearly show they achieved this by being focussed only on Christ demonstrating complete obedience. They completely surrendered their freewill to God's plan in their life and God's grace helped them to develop in Christ and to show the fullness of Christ in their 'race'.

AS