Doubt!

Are you a doubter? Have you ever been told something, by someone you loved or truly trusted, then later doubted the validity of the matter? It seems to come so easily to most people to just naturally doubt the word of others, regardless of how close the relationship.

As my husband and I sat reading our evening devotion together, on two occasions, we ran across, the enemy of God, trying to create doubt in the hearts of God’s followers; for that is where doubt originated: with satan.

The first one, literally, was in the Garden of Eden, when he spoke directly to Eve, as she neared and possibly admired the Tree of Good and Evil.

“Now the serpent was more subtle 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?’  And the woman said unto the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’  And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die:  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.’  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”     Genesis 3:1-6

Up until the time Eve encountered satan, in the form of a serpent, she was perfectly content to believe whatever God or Adam said to her. There was no reason to doubt, nor was there ever any implication of doubt on either part of her or Adam.

The next reference that my husband and I encountered during devotion was found when Jesus was just finishing up His 40 day fast in the wilderness.

“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.  And when the tempter came to him, he said, ‘If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.’ But he answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’.” Matthew 4:1-4

It is so interesting that we encountered both of these Scriptures on the same night, because together, they encapsulate the “fall of mankind” and the “victory over sin for mankind”, which equals the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christ overcame on the very same point, whereupon Adam and Eve fell: appetite. In both cases, the enemy of souls sought to instill doubt in those whom he encountered.

He was successful with Eve, when he stated: “…hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” This was the very first indictment against God. The enemy sought to undermine the validity of God’s Word; for God had explicitly said:

 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17 (Italics added for emphasis)

For some unknown reason, Eve chose to doubt the Words of God, and listen to the words of satan, and thus become the first doubter, and doubting has successfully followed mankind, to his chagrin, up until this very point in time. As a matter of fact, some of you may be doubting that what you’re reading is actually true.

When satan approached Jesus, in the wilderness, after fasting for 40 full days, he just knew that he would be as successful with Christ as he had been with Eve! For Eve wasn’t even hungry. She didn’t know what hunger was. Whereas, Jesus is near starvation; surely He wouldn’t be able to resist the doubt that he would bring up to Him?

However, when satan approached Jesus, with the words, ‘If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread’; he was trying to make Jesus disbelieve the words, which God had just said, only 40 days earlier, at His baptism.

 ^“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’.” Matthew 3:16-17 (Italics added for emphasis)

Jesus would have none of that foolish doubting; rather than be suckered into doubting what God had actually said about one situation, He quickly retorted with additional  Words from God to counteract the temptation of satan: ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’.”  Deuteronomy 8:3

Therefore, I have learned that although the words of humankind cannot always be believed and trusted, the Words of God are immortal! You can NEVER GO WRONG WITH HIM! He cannot lie! Titus 1:2

More: My Death Poem