In the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verse 29 we read, “Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed {are} they who did not see, and {yet} believed.’”

 It should not be a great surprise that doubt is an effective weapon used by our adversary, the devil, against us in our Christian walk since it was the first weapon he used against us, first against Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Doubt implies a lack of trust in many things and during the encounter between the serpent and Eve; the serpent caused Eve to lose her trust in God’s word, His honesty, His goodness and His wisdom.

When we determine to follow God, we need a foundation to stand on and His word is more than enough.  God, in His perfection cannot lie; therefore, when He makes a statement, we can certainly believe it to be true!  The serpent in his attempt to plant doubt in Eve makes it sound like God has stated they “shall not eat of every tree” as if they were not entitled to eat of the trees.  Eve corrected the serpent by saying they could eat of all except of the tree in the middle of the garden.  The serpent then drove home the point of doubt by saying that God surely didn’t mean they would die!  In this, the serpent challenges the honesty of God.  His response to Eve was to lead her to believe that she would not die, but she learned, and we know that the death God was referring to was initially the spiritual death that man now suffered in separation from God and that physical death was now introduced.

Satan also challenged God’s goodness by implying that He was withholding from them by not allowing them to partake of the fruit of this tree.  “You’ll be just like Him if you eat.  He doesn’t want that!  That’s why you’ve been told not to eat of that tree.”  This is what Satan was saying.  If God was good wouldn’t He want to share this?  Wouldn’t He want His creation to be like Him, after all we were created in His image?  It was all a lie and we often find ourselves facing the same effective weapon Satan used to introduce sin into the world.  Don’t let Satan use doubt to prevent you from receiving the salvation God desires for you.  Trust God’s word, His honesty, His goodness and His wisdom.  Above all, trust God in all things!

Copyright © 2003, Nolan P. Rutter