“Hath God said …?”

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

— Genesis 3:1 (KJV)

“Subtil” — “crafty” — is the word. The serpent didn’t actually tell the woman that God didn’t tell them not to eat from every tree: he simply asked her if He had really said that. And with that, he sowed the seed of a little stink-weed called DOUBT.

By “doubt”, I don’t mean a healthy questioning of the Word of God. Some might call that “doubt”, but if you take your question either to someone more learned or to the Big Sir, Himself (which we have every right to do, through Jesus), you’re walking in faith that there is an answer.

I’m talking about “doubt” in the sense that we are actually open to the possibility that God is wrong.

And here we go back to last Friday’s post — about judging God. Not a good idea.

The whole relationship we have with God is based on not doubting Him. As the writer of Hebrews puts it,

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

— Hebrews 11:6

Doubt is that great faith-killer, and on one level, it insulates us against disappointment. If we pray for something, or try to call something “that is not as if it is” (Romans 4:17) and it doesn’t happen, then, well, we reserve the right to say that we never really expected it to come to pass anyway — but we still love you, Lord!

Doubting God falls into the same category as judging Him. He promises all sorts of blessings and power and authority for those who believe in Him and His Son, and those promises are so magnificent, they’re mind-blowing … so much so, that we convince ourselves that God didn’t really say all that.

“Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.“

— Matthew 21:21

 I believe Jesus allows that we will have the slightest doubt about throwing a mountain into the sea — such as asking ourselves, “Why would we want to do that?” or considering the unintended consequences, like ticked-off skiers or the tsunami that would follow — but the hyperbole gets the point across: if doubt-free faith could do that, how much more are we able to do when it comes to healing the sick, interceding in a situation to bring positive change or even praying for peace? These are things that there is no question are God’s will — and all we need is to declare that His will is to be done.

One thing we need to remember is this — and it’s something Eve and Adam didn’t think of: if we hear that nattering nabob of negativism going off in our heads, saying, “Yea … hath God said …???”, there is but one answer.

“Yep.”