DOUBT VERSUS UNBELIEF

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”  (Hebrews 3:12 NIV)

The Greek words for doubt carry the idea of uncertainty. They have the connotation of being unsettled, of lacking a firm conviction. Doubt is not the opposite of faith but the opportunity of faith -- the growing pains of an eager, seeking spirit. The true enemy of faith is unbelief, but doubt is a necessary leg of the journey of faith. It stands at the edge of past understandings and stretches painfully for new frontiers. To doubt, then, is to be human…

Most of us need to reinstate that word doubt as a friend, not an enemy. But there’s another word we need to examine: unbelief. We might say that doubt asks questions; unbelief refuses to hear answers. The former is hard miles on a good journey; the latter is the dead end, a refusal to travel any farther…

Christian writer Mark Littleton found a simple formula [for dealing with doubt]. It goes this way: “Turn your doubts to questions. Turn your questions to prayers. Turn your prayers to God.” 

-- David Jeremiah in “Keep the Faith: How to Stand Strong in a World Turned Upside Down” 

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