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We read in our text our Lord’s words “Doubt not” and this should lead us to ponder on what doubting means. If we take the dictionary, we find that it is a state of mind, that hangs between two contradictory conclusions, or in simple terms, a place where we park in our mind, at a T junction, before we continue our journey one way or another. In the spiritual sense, we see clearly then why the Lord said we should avoid this stop, particularly when it pertains to our desire to follow His words and commandments. If we allow ourselves to doubt and pause in our quest, Satan is immediately there, and because of the doubt, we can then have a battle on our hands.

In the natural we have all experienced how, if we set out to do something and then doubt our ability to see it through, we usually fail. How often on T.V. have we seen a sportsman or woman about to perform a high jump or weight lift, and at the last minute, doubt appears in their eyes and they usually fail. The downfall of man and woman had its origin in doubt and we read in Genesis 2:17 God’s Commandment, “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest there of, thou shalt surely die.” While Adam and Eve had no doubt in God’s words, they lived under God’s blessings, but when Satan came to Eve and put an alternate view to her in Genesis 3:5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.” Because of the doubt shown by Eve, Satan was able to lead them to disobedience to God’s words.

The consequence of allowing doubt to creep into our faith in Christ, is shown in many parts of the Bible. One of these graphic examples is when the Apostles saw Christ walking on the water   and Peter asked the Lord “to bid me come to thee”, and the Lord commanded “come”.   Peter did not doubt that single word and walked on the water toward Christ, but when the weather became boisterous and in Peter’s mind he paused and let doubt in, then he sank and called to the Lord to save him. Christ’s words should ring clear to us even to-day; “0 thou of little faith, wherefore dids’t thou doubt?”

In our daily life, both natural and spiritual, we are confronted daily with happenings and teachings which require us to try the situation, we call on our common sense to test the natural things and we should call on God’s spirit within us, to test the spiritual to see if they are possible in the natural and from God’s word in the spiritual. Once we have determined these things, our faith should then take over and we should proceed. It is only when doubt is allowed to come to the fore, that we are deviated, which usually leads to failing and unhappiness.

Having seen the downside of doubt, we should take heart from our Lord’s promises in our text, if we can overcome doubt in our lives, we can see the great blessings that can flow. Christ likened the trials and tests that come into our lives as mountains, (mountains of cares, etc.) but He promised that if we have faith in Him, and doubt not, we can command that those mountains be removed and cast into the sea. And His further promise that all things asked in His name in prayer, doubting not, ye shall receive.

To help us overcome this doubt in our lives, God has given us His Spirit. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 5:4-5 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” If we can all devote some   time to overcome “doubt” in our lives, we will appreciate and taste more and more, the blessings of God.