A strong faith can feel impossible when you are overwhelmed with doubts and questions. That kind of faith seems impossible today. But, what if you didn’t have to wait for that day? What if it were available now? Today, you can build a stronger faith when you follow the pattern found in the Psalms. This plan will show you how faith and doubt can co-exist together.Scott Savage
Day 1
Scriptures: Psalms 139:23-24, Psalms 142:1-7
What comes to mind when you think about God’s character?
I want you to begin by identifying three to five words you would use to describe God. These aren’t words others would tell you, but you don’t believe them. I want you to pick three to five words of your own to describe your view of God.
Really – do it right now.
We’ve got time to wait.
Do you have those words?
Please don’t go on without them.
Once you have them, I want you to consider one of the most famous quotes from one of the most famous Christian writers of the 20th century.
A.W. Tozer once wrote, “The most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God.”
Our view of God is critical because it shapes how we relate to God and function in the world.
To strengthen your faith in God, you must be honest about how you’re currently relating to Him.
Several years ago, Skye Jethani wrote a best-selling book, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God. In the book, he explored four ways of relating to God. As I share them, I encourage you to consider which one may describe you.
The first is “Under God.” In this pattern, you observe rituals and follow commands to please God like He is a manager at your office.
The second pattern is “Over God.” In this pattern, you find the principles and solve the problems, all to get life to work out the way you want.
The third pattern is “For God.” In this pattern, you do something significant and make your life count to perform or fulfill a purpose that gives your life meaning and value.
Finally, the fourth pattern is “From God.” In this pattern, you look to God as somewhere between a cosmic butler and a divine genie, where God is the source from which you seek to draw out what you need when you say the magic words.
While all of these may have helpful and truthful elements, they all break down because they are about fear and control.
On the other hand, Psalms gives us very different illustrations of how to live with God. While the popular approach to Psalms may feel therapeutic, safe, and comforting, the actual content of each psalms is far different. Over 40% of the psalms are laments – desperate and intense songs of anguish and grief. We’re going to dig into the meaning of the word lament tomorrow. But now, let’s be clear. There’s no fake, happy-go-lucky faith in Psalms. What you read in this book is raw, gritty, and honest.
The first principle you need to know to build a stronger faith is that you can be honest with God. Whatever you’re carrying today – guilt, shame, lies, inadequacy, or even doubt – you need to express that to God.
Before you go to bed tonight, I want you to pray the same prayer David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24. I want you to be honest with God and ask God to check out the corners and dark places in your heart. If you want a stronger relationship with God, you must be honest.
Tomorrow, we will examine what happens when we take the difficult stuff we carry to God. You may be surprised by what you find in the Psalms.
Day 2
Scriptures: Psalms 13:1-2, Psalms 88:1-9
When’s the last time life threw you a curve ball?
The car broke down, and the repair bill has too many zeroes.
The routine blood work returned, and the doctor is concerned with more tests underway.
The person you trusted and were transparent with betrayed you, and you feel deeply wounded.
All of these experiences fit the definition of disorientation. They are the subject of what biblical scholars call “laments.”
Author Walter Bruggemann defined laments this way. “Lament is caused by disorienting events or circumstances that make unsense of the world we try so hard to render sensible.”
The people of Israel saw God as a safe place to run to when life left them disoriented, and they struggled to make sense of things.
God was a safe place to lament. Many scholars would classify over 40% of the psalms as laments.
One powerful lament is Psalm 13. The chapter begins with David asking God some hard questions.
“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me?”
The second principle you need to know to build a stronger faith is healthy relationships produce unguarded conversation.
When was the last time you had an unguarded conversation with God? Do you feel free to be honest with God about your doubts?
Friend, I want you to know that there is no better person to approach with your big questions. Many of us grew up in environments where we didn’t feel this freedom. If you’re like me, you had authority figures who acted as if they never struggled in their faith, dismissing your questions.
You need to know that faith is not incongruent with doubt. Expressing doubt is a sign of health in your faith and relationship with God.
The late pastor and prolific writer Timothy Keller created a powerful word picture of doubt.
“A faith without some doubts is like a human body with no antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask the hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.”
The question isn’t whether God can take your doubt because the psalms show He can. The question is whether your faith can survive not expressing it. Research by Dr. Kara Powell on high school students found that 7 in 10 had significant doubts about God and faith. However, less than half of those students discuss their struggles with ministry leaders or peers. ”Research has shown it’s not doubt that’s toxic to faith. It’s silence.”
Unexpressed doubt is toxic to faith. We must give voice to the chaos we’ve encountered in the world. We must take those doubts, questions, and hurts to God to develop a stronger faith.
So, what do you need to tell God about today? What have you not expressed to Him? Read the passages associated with this devotional, and then begin your most honest prayer in a while.
Tomorrow, we’ll examine the difference between gossip and prayer. This shift has changed how I relate to God.
Day 3
Scriptures: Psalms 13:3-4, Psalms 73:21-26
What do you do when something goes wrong in your life?
Many people treat God as their last resort rather than their first option when something goes wrong. We eventually get to prayer, but we go to other things first. I use the word “we” here because I’m just as guilty in this area as anyone else. I wish I went to God first, but I cannot say I consistently do so.
What makes this even more complicated is that it’s easier to go to God about problems with others but harder to go to God when our issues are with Him. When we feel offended by what God has or hasn’t done, it’s easier to tell someone else than to tell God.
However, the psalms record a life in which men and women cried out to God before complaining to others.
Their cries are now known as laments. Part of this lament form is radical honesty and a commitment to take those “offenses” before God.
A great example of this is Psalms 13. In this chapter, David brings a desperate cry to God.
“Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.”
According to the Psalms, life with God doesn’t fit into a neat compartment. Life with God comes in the middle of our doubts, questions, and confusion—when we just cry out to God wherever and however we are.
Life with God is all-encompassing for David. God wasn’t a means to an end for him; He was David’s end and treasure.
Do you remember the first day of this plan when I asked you to describe God in three or five words? If you wrote those words down or typed them out, go back to your list of words. If not, see if you can recall the ones that came to mind immediately.
For many of us, God is a distant friend, not our closest companion. And because of that, it makes sense to go to others before we go to Him.
When a crisis comes—and a crisis is coming or already here for most people reading this plan—we all run to the one we trust. The fact that we run to someone or something other than God shows us where we have a problem with God.
Several years ago, I heard a sermon that strongly convicted me in this area of my relationship with God. If my faith was going to become stronger, if I was going to navigate big questions and real doubts about God, then I realized something needed to change. Was God just the last option in my life after I had exhausted all other options, or was I going to treat Him as the treasure I was pursuing above everything else?
That’s the third principle I want you to take away from this plan. God wants to be your first option, not your last resort. Indeed, you need to do more than pray when living your life. However, as Pastor Kevin Queen says, “Prayer isn’t the only thing we do, but it is the first thing we do.”
If you want to strengthen your faith, bring your problems, doubts, needs, and requests to God before you do anything else or go to anyone else.
Tomorrow, we’ll wrap up this plan with an important word to add to your vocabulary. This word has helped me navigate big questions and long seasons of doubt. I’m praying it will help you, too!
Day 4
Scriptures: Psalms 13:5-6, Psalms 103:8-12, Psalms 145:8-9
We use the word “love” for a lot of things. But at the end of the day, the most important thing we need to know is that God’s love is not like our love.
One Hebrew word in the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, describes God’s affection and commitment to His people: hesed. This word means “steadfast love” or “covenant love.” Hesed is one of the most significant and essential words in the Old Testament.
As I’ve wrestled with doubts at different points in my life with God, the concept of hesed has repeatedly brought me back to an important truth. So, here is the fourth and final principle I want to share with you in this plan. Your doubt is temporary, while God’s covenant love is eternal.
David speaks of this in Psalm 13 when he writes, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.”
David doesn’t turn from his doubts because God’s actions change or God answers his questions. David returns to God’s unshakable character and commitment because God’s love for him remains.
God’s steadfast love is a recurring theme throughout the Old Testament, including Psalms 108 and 145. The people continued to speak of God’s love because it was far more consistent than they were. Like an anchor in a storm, God’s hesed (love) was the one thing that didn’t shift or move with the passing of time or new events.
When I think about human doubts and God’s hesed, I think about my experience with doubts at the beginning of my career. I graduated from seminary in the middle of the Great Recession. I served part-time on staff at a church during my seminary years, hoping that a full-time position would open up by the time I graduated. But, after many months of waiting and a staff-wide salary reduction, my wife finally convinced me to look for work elsewhere. I ended up finding a second and a third job. I worked for 45 straight days during one period, sometimes pulling shifts at all three jobs in one day.
I was exhausted physically, discouraged emotionally, and growing cynical spiritually.
Where was God in all of this?! I had graduated from seminary and was ordained as a pastor. Yet, a 20-year-old with a high school degree trained me to make caramel frappuccinos. My pride and entitlement were out of control at that point!
God used many difficult days to humble me, teach me about the power of gratitude, and strengthen my prayer life. I worked at the church and the coffee shop for over a year. My faith grew more robust, and we paid off over $20,000 in credit card debt.
As I look back on that period, I see that my doubts were born because of my perception of God’s activity, but my faith grew stronger because of my experience of God’s character.
In Psalm 13, David shifts from doubts to strengthened faith in six short verses. Our movement through those stages may take weeks, months, or years for you and me. The amount of time is insignificant, but the format should encourage us. We cannot rush the process of wrestling with God and strengthening faith. You cannot rush God. So, what if you stopped measuring God using a clock and started using a calendar? What if you stopped asking, “God, why are you allowing this?” and started asking, “God, who are you in the middle of this?”
We may doubt God’s actions, but we can rediscover trust because of God’s character.
We develop a stronger faith when we discover God’s eternal love during our temporary challenges.
As this plan concludes, I pray that you will one day be able to say, like King David, “I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”
God is good. All the time!
