Escaping the Dungeon of Doubt
Are you facing difficult challenges in your life today? Are these challenges causing you to feel discouraged or doubt God in some way? It’s been said that every person is either going through a trial, coming out of a trial, or going into a trial.
Although we experience good times in life, we will also experience difficult times. And in these difficult seasons not only may we struggle with discouragement, but we may also deal with doubt. What do you do if you find yourself in a dungeon of doubt?
I call it a dungeon because, as we will see, John the Baptist was in a literal dungeon when he experienced a crisis of belief. Moreover, doubt itself can be like a prison, as John Bunyan described in his classic book, Pilgrim’s Progress.
Doubt, if we don’t deal with it correctly, can enslave us and keep us from growing in faith through the trials of life.
Finding ourselves in a place of doubt is not the major problem. Rather, what we do with our doubt or what we allow doubt to do to us is the more critical issue.
Being a true disciple of Jesus does not mean that we will never have doubts, but a true disciple will bring their doubts to Jesus.
Having given an account of the healing of the centurion’s servant, which highlighted the centurion’s faith and having also given an account of Jesus raising of the widow’s son, we read beginning in Luke 7:18:
We know from Matthew’s parallel account that when John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to Jesus asking, “Are you the one?", John was in prison (Matthew 11:2).
Because John had confronted King Herod about marrying his brother’s wife Herodias, she apparently persuaded Herod to have John thrown in a Roman dungeon. She would later persuade him to have John beheaded.
John was a courageous and bold prophet of God. Additionally, he was the prophesied forerunner of Jesus who baptized Him before the start of His earthly ministry. As Jesus came to him to be baptized, John announced, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.†John 1:29b.
Now, because of who John was and his proven character, there’s some debate about what was behind John’s question to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?â€
Some commentators suggests that John’s faith in Jesus was weakening. Being imprisoned in a Roman dungeon was no walk in the park. As General George Patton once said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.â€
Another suggestion is that it was not John’s faith, but his patience that was failing. As Leon Morris elaborates, his question may be in the spirit of, ‘You are the One we are expecting, aren’t You? Then why not do something?â€
Many people, especially when they’re going through a difficult time, don’t suddenly become atheists. That is, they don’t stop believing that God exists. Rather, they question His plan or His timing. Some doubt whether His plans for their lives are for their good or whether God’s timing is right.
Others who may be going through a challenging time, like a battle with cancer, may just be confused or perplexed. They have a hard time understanding why God allows certain things to happen.
Perhaps John was just perplexed. He had prophesied that the coming messiah would separate the chaff from the wheat, the righteous from the unrighteous and execute judgement. But Jesus was doing nothing remotely close. On the contrary, He was immersed in acts of compassion, culminating with His death on a Roman cross.
But although John was hearing reports in prison about all the miracles Jesus was performing and may have been feeling personally forsaken, he did not rely on his feelings. He knew to take his questions and doubts to the Lord. And we must with confidence learn to do likewise.
The greatest danger to our Christian walk is not questioning the Lord or having doubts about what He’s up to, but to think that we can’t bring those questions and doubts to our heavenly Father. He loves when we come to Him with all our questions and doubts and He will never cast us off or reject us for doing so.
For the past few years I’ve been asked to do a Q&A with the kids in our Awana ministry. Mom and dad, if you don’t know this already, some of your children are wrestling with some really deep questions about life and faith. And that’s not a bad thing, that’s a good thing.
It’s a good thing because our children are not going to come to a saving relationship with Jesus riding the coattails of our faith.
We surely must own our own faith if we desire to have a powerful influence on our children’s spiritual lives. But owning our faith is not enough. They must own their own faith. And to do so, we should be encouraging them to investigate for themselves why we believe what we believe, and we should be prepared to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ with gentleness and respect.
If they are struggling with doubts about the claims of Christianity or the reliability of the bible they should be confident enough to bring those doubts to the Lord and to you. They shouldn’t be told that they’re wrong for asking skeptical questions or expressing their doubts about things related to faith.
Parents and grandparents, we must intentionally cultivate relationships with our children and grandchildren that encourage open communication.
How did Jesus respond to John’s question, which appears to come from a place of discouragement rooted in unmet expectations?
“In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.†Luke 7:21-23
John was likely expecting that the messiah was going to execute judgement on those who rejected the gospel of the kingdom and save those who repented of their sin, received the good news of the kingdom, and surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. But instead, John is sitting in prison and facing execution for doing the right thing, for standing for truth and righteousness.
Often what leads to discouragement and doubt is that things don’t work out as we had planned or expected. John is having a momentary crisis of belief because in a time of unmet expectations, he’s focusing not on who he knew Jesus was, but on His circumstances. But although he’s doubting things, he doesn’t withdraw from the Lord, rather he gets a message out to Him.
And in the response to John’s question, Jesus doesn’t tell his disciples to go back and tell John what a disgrace he is for questioning him. Rather, Jesus tells John’s disciples to relay to him the things that He’s been doing, healing the sick, raising the dead, and preaching the good news to the poor, which all speaks to who He is and are a fulfillment of scripture (Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 61:1).
What Jesus is doing here is helping John reflect not on his unmet expectations, but on the things that Jesus is doing that reveal who He is and fulfill the promises of God’s word.
John wasn’t willfully blind to what Jesus was doing or refusing to trust His word. He lost sight of who Jesus was by focusing more on His circumstances than on the person, power, and promises of Jesus.
Now, in addition to reminding John through his disciples about the works He was doing in fulfillment of scripture which speaks to who He is, Jesus adds this promise:
It’s one thing to have questions and doubts about what God may be allowing in your life, but it’s another thing to be angry, bitter, and offended at God. If we don’t deal with our doubts correctly, which are often connected with painful circumstances, they can cause us to become bitter at God.
Although we are never justified if we are bitter or offended with God, we should also be honest and real with God about where we are. And if we are looking for help to overcome bitterness, He will help us.
Although John was discouraged about his circumstances, which created some doubts, it doesn’t appear that he was offended or bitter against the Lord. He was just letting the Lord know where he was and trusted that the Lord would give him what he needed.
And in Jesus’ response in verse 23, Jesus promises: If you keep trusting in me despite your doubts and not allow your heart to become bitter you will be blessed—you will receive the grace and courage to continue to stand for me, you will be blessed not only in this life, but great will be your reward in heaven.
As followers of Jesus, and pilgrims passing through a fallen world, we will go through some heavy stuff. In these seasons of difficulty, we can sink into moments of deep discouragement and even doubt. You may not stop believing that God is good, but you may feel like he’s forgotten to be good to you. Life can be very perplexing.
But in these moments, we must bring all our questions and all our doubts to Jesus. Remember, the greatest danger to our lives is not questioning the Lord or having doubts about what He’s up to, but to think that we can’t bring those questions and doubts in prayer to our Heavenly Father.
As the president of Strategic Renewal Canada explained in a recent article:
Don’t allow your circumstances to determine your view of God. Look at your circumstances from behind the cross of Jesus and his resurrection power and know that He loves you and has promised to work all things for your good and His glory.
In His service,
Pastor Marco
Although we experience good times in life, we will also experience difficult times. And in these difficult seasons not only may we struggle with discouragement, but we may also deal with doubt. What do you do if you find yourself in a dungeon of doubt?
I call it a dungeon because, as we will see, John the Baptist was in a literal dungeon when he experienced a crisis of belief. Moreover, doubt itself can be like a prison, as John Bunyan described in his classic book, Pilgrim’s Progress.
Doubt, if we don’t deal with it correctly, can enslave us and keep us from growing in faith through the trials of life.
Finding ourselves in a place of doubt is not the major problem. Rather, what we do with our doubt or what we allow doubt to do to us is the more critical issue.
Being a true disciple of Jesus does not mean that we will never have doubts, but a true disciple will bring their doubts to Jesus.
Having given an account of the healing of the centurion’s servant, which highlighted the centurion’s faith and having also given an account of Jesus raising of the widow’s son, we read beginning in Luke 7:18:
“The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?†And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’†Luke 7:18-20
We know from Matthew’s parallel account that when John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to Jesus asking, “Are you the one?", John was in prison (Matthew 11:2).
Because John had confronted King Herod about marrying his brother’s wife Herodias, she apparently persuaded Herod to have John thrown in a Roman dungeon. She would later persuade him to have John beheaded.
John was a courageous and bold prophet of God. Additionally, he was the prophesied forerunner of Jesus who baptized Him before the start of His earthly ministry. As Jesus came to him to be baptized, John announced, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.†John 1:29b.
Now, because of who John was and his proven character, there’s some debate about what was behind John’s question to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?â€
Some commentators suggests that John’s faith in Jesus was weakening. Being imprisoned in a Roman dungeon was no walk in the park. As General George Patton once said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.â€
Another suggestion is that it was not John’s faith, but his patience that was failing. As Leon Morris elaborates, his question may be in the spirit of, ‘You are the One we are expecting, aren’t You? Then why not do something?â€
Many people, especially when they’re going through a difficult time, don’t suddenly become atheists. That is, they don’t stop believing that God exists. Rather, they question His plan or His timing. Some doubt whether His plans for their lives are for their good or whether God’s timing is right.
Others who may be going through a challenging time, like a battle with cancer, may just be confused or perplexed. They have a hard time understanding why God allows certain things to happen.
Perhaps John was just perplexed. He had prophesied that the coming messiah would separate the chaff from the wheat, the righteous from the unrighteous and execute judgement. But Jesus was doing nothing remotely close. On the contrary, He was immersed in acts of compassion, culminating with His death on a Roman cross.
But although John was hearing reports in prison about all the miracles Jesus was performing and may have been feeling personally forsaken, he did not rely on his feelings. He knew to take his questions and doubts to the Lord. And we must with confidence learn to do likewise.
The greatest danger to our Christian walk is not questioning the Lord or having doubts about what He’s up to, but to think that we can’t bring those questions and doubts to our heavenly Father. He loves when we come to Him with all our questions and doubts and He will never cast us off or reject us for doing so.
For the past few years I’ve been asked to do a Q&A with the kids in our Awana ministry. Mom and dad, if you don’t know this already, some of your children are wrestling with some really deep questions about life and faith. And that’s not a bad thing, that’s a good thing.
It’s a good thing because our children are not going to come to a saving relationship with Jesus riding the coattails of our faith.
We surely must own our own faith if we desire to have a powerful influence on our children’s spiritual lives. But owning our faith is not enough. They must own their own faith. And to do so, we should be encouraging them to investigate for themselves why we believe what we believe, and we should be prepared to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ with gentleness and respect.
If they are struggling with doubts about the claims of Christianity or the reliability of the bible they should be confident enough to bring those doubts to the Lord and to you. They shouldn’t be told that they’re wrong for asking skeptical questions or expressing their doubts about things related to faith.
Parents and grandparents, we must intentionally cultivate relationships with our children and grandchildren that encourage open communication.
How did Jesus respond to John’s question, which appears to come from a place of discouragement rooted in unmet expectations?
“In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.†Luke 7:21-23
John was likely expecting that the messiah was going to execute judgement on those who rejected the gospel of the kingdom and save those who repented of their sin, received the good news of the kingdom, and surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. But instead, John is sitting in prison and facing execution for doing the right thing, for standing for truth and righteousness.
Often what leads to discouragement and doubt is that things don’t work out as we had planned or expected. John is having a momentary crisis of belief because in a time of unmet expectations, he’s focusing not on who he knew Jesus was, but on His circumstances. But although he’s doubting things, he doesn’t withdraw from the Lord, rather he gets a message out to Him.
And in the response to John’s question, Jesus doesn’t tell his disciples to go back and tell John what a disgrace he is for questioning him. Rather, Jesus tells John’s disciples to relay to him the things that He’s been doing, healing the sick, raising the dead, and preaching the good news to the poor, which all speaks to who He is and are a fulfillment of scripture (Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 61:1).
What Jesus is doing here is helping John reflect not on his unmet expectations, but on the things that Jesus is doing that reveal who He is and fulfill the promises of God’s word.
John wasn’t willfully blind to what Jesus was doing or refusing to trust His word. He lost sight of who Jesus was by focusing more on His circumstances than on the person, power, and promises of Jesus.
“There is a difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is a matter of the mind and emotions when we cannot understand what God is doing or why He’s doing it; but unbelief is a matter of the will—the will that refuses to believe God’s word, no matter what He says or does.†Warren Wiersbe
Now, in addition to reminding John through his disciples about the works He was doing in fulfillment of scripture which speaks to who He is, Jesus adds this promise:
“And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.†Luke 7:23
It’s one thing to have questions and doubts about what God may be allowing in your life, but it’s another thing to be angry, bitter, and offended at God. If we don’t deal with our doubts correctly, which are often connected with painful circumstances, they can cause us to become bitter at God.
Although we are never justified if we are bitter or offended with God, we should also be honest and real with God about where we are. And if we are looking for help to overcome bitterness, He will help us.
Although John was discouraged about his circumstances, which created some doubts, it doesn’t appear that he was offended or bitter against the Lord. He was just letting the Lord know where he was and trusted that the Lord would give him what he needed.
And in Jesus’ response in verse 23, Jesus promises: If you keep trusting in me despite your doubts and not allow your heart to become bitter you will be blessed—you will receive the grace and courage to continue to stand for me, you will be blessed not only in this life, but great will be your reward in heaven.
“Evidently [this promise and the quotations from Isaiah were the key that set John free]. While they did not set him physically free, it set his mind and his heart free; the [reminder of who Jesus was and His promises] were good enough for John.†Ken Plus
As followers of Jesus, and pilgrims passing through a fallen world, we will go through some heavy stuff. In these seasons of difficulty, we can sink into moments of deep discouragement and even doubt. You may not stop believing that God is good, but you may feel like he’s forgotten to be good to you. Life can be very perplexing.
But in these moments, we must bring all our questions and all our doubts to Jesus. Remember, the greatest danger to our lives is not questioning the Lord or having doubts about what He’s up to, but to think that we can’t bring those questions and doubts in prayer to our Heavenly Father.
As the president of Strategic Renewal Canada explained in a recent article:
“The act of praying out of distress [or doubt] can take various forms, including supplication, intercession, meditation, and reflection, each serving as a means of reaching out to God in times of need. We can effectively use the 4/4 pattern (explained here) to bring our distress to the Lord.
Research in the field of psychology has highlighted the potential benefits of prayer in promoting emotional well-being and resilience. Engaging in prayer during times of distress may offer individuals a sense of control, purpose, and connection, contributing to their overall sense of wellness. If they only understood that praying out of a deep relationship with the very One who formed us in our mother’s womb would create not only a mental well-being, but an intimate relationship with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.â€
Don’t allow your circumstances to determine your view of God. Look at your circumstances from behind the cross of Jesus and his resurrection power and know that He loves you and has promised to work all things for your good and His glory.
In His service,
Pastor Marco