I want to state right off that this is not going to be one of those “Believe in yourself and you will obtain all your heart desires” posts. But I do want to follow on the heels of the previous blog and sort of continue the theme…with a slightly different twist. Faced with impossibilities, or what seems to be an impossible situation, we often feel self-doubt or fear creep in. While studying for a message on Joseph I will be preaching in four weeks, I ran across this:
- Moses stuttered.
- David was an adulterer and murderer.
- Hosea’s wife was a prostitute.
- John Mark (who wrote the Gospel of Mark) was rejected by the apostle Paul.
- Abraham was too old to become a father.
- Sarah was too old to become a mother.
- Peter acted impulsively and had a hot temper.
- David was too young to fight Goliath.
- Jonah ran from God.
- Gideon and Thomas both doubted God’s Word.
- Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
- Martha was a worrywart.
- Samson’s hair was too long. (Note: no jealousy here) 🙂
- Paul was a persecutor.
And so it goes. So many others can be added to that list…just from the Bible. That is not counting those who have danced down through history and graced our lives with amazing contributions. Isn’t it cool that the Bible is filled with imperfect people? Because that is all there is. The Bible could have white-washed things/people and given us the impression that following God makes everything everyone hunky-dory. But that would have been a lie, deception of the worst kind. If all we had to look at were perfect people, how degrading would that have been? How out-of-touch? Ugh!! But, God has painted His followers with warts and all. I believe it was Oliver Cromwell, the great English leader, who was having his portrait painted. He would only agree to it on one condition: that he be painted warts (a very prominent one) and all. I like that!
As I was doing some thinking this morning (I know that is dangerous) 🙂 , I was directed to a verse I was given several years ago. “But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.“ [Jer.1:17-19]
Do you suffer from self-doubt? Are you, right now, doubting God’s work in your life? Are you doubting that He can even work in, or through you? DON’T!! Don’t give into the enemy’s lies. Any thoughts on this? I would love to hear how God is speaking and working through you…in spite of what you may be thinking.
A lot of my recent posts have been ‘intertwined’ with self doubt.
I could do this, but…..
I want this, but….
Sounds cliche (and I feel odd typing that), but I CAN do all things through Him. I just need to look at the less-than-obvious ways of getting there. And I shall :-).
Great post Bill!
That “but” word is a big one for us Toby. Praying the strength He alone can give you will come showering down. Thanks for the comment.
Yes I do. I.doubt.
You are not alone Julie. You know I am praying for you.
Hi Bill,
I sometimes doubt God’s work in my life but right now, I don’t. I believe He shines His light through me. I believe I’m a reflection in His perfection.
We all go through those periods Mercy. Glad you are experiencing one of those “high points.” You are right: we are all a reflection of His perfection. Thanks.
Loved this post, Bill. Such a timely reminder. Self-doubt is poison, and doesn’t do anything positive. I know from my own experiences that it (self-doubt) makes you live a closed off and fear centered life rather than the victorious life God has for us. I’m reminded of Paul’s words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7.
Great verse Jon! I love that one. You are right in that self-doubt is poison. Thanks for the input.
Bill:
Yes I have a lot of self doubts. After all, I am older than dirt so I can certainly bring up many.
I once thought at my age, I was in one of those biblical categories “Old men will dream dreams”. However, that has not been the case I think as far as God thinks. He has a way of surprising me sometimes.
But yet there is self doubt on many things, except God.
BTW>
I hope you survived the sever storms Tues. nite. In about 30 ( 1:45 A.M.) minutes we should start to get the effects of high winds, thunder storms, and possible tornadoes.
We are ready and have emergency procedures in place. Hopefully it might not be too bad.
it is good that while you have self-doubts Larry, you do not doubt God. it is common when you get to our age, to look back and see plenty of regrets and wonder why. But if we allow God to do His work, we can see we have so much to give to others from the lessons we can learn. Thanks for the honesty.
And yes, we survived (as far as I know). I was asleep with the window open when I found myself getting wet about midnight. 🙂 I closed the window, walked through the house, saw the storm, and went back to bed and slept like a baby. Thanks for asking. Hope your parks were ok.
Bill: We were spared this time. No really serious surprises. Actually I thought the weather stations played this storm up to be worse than what it was. Glad things were ok with you sleeping through it.
Good stuff, Bill.
Thanks jason.
Self-doubt has plagued me most of my life. It is being eradicated more and more. Very thankful for that. Trusting Jesus to continue removing this by the might of His power.
amazing how God transforms us and takes removes junk. thanks Matt.
i think this is a central theme of scripture – Jesus’ teaching included. He emphasized that kingdom didn’t belong to righteous religious people but all the people they tended to exclude and exploit.
Absolutely Charlie. It was the religious people who gave Him the biggest headaches. “Warty” people know they need Him. Thanks. Hope your skiing time was relaxing for you.
That was awesome, Bill. Seriously… Perfect timing and great reminder.
Funny, in the red-letter verse you’ve underlined the last part, but it was the sentence before that one that spoke to me… And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. – God is the one who will do it – and He’s strong enough to create the universe, so my tiny problems are a piece of cake for Him 🙂
Thanks, big brother 🙂
Thank you Zee. I like how one verse of Scripture can capture one person in one place and another part of it can capture another. Thanks for showing that in your comment. You’re welcome ‘lil sis.
I have struggled at times. It was not always that way but because of some failures and struggles they began to creep in. I did reading in the Bible and found some encouragement but I also did some reading in some other books that began to help me move past it. I still have my days when it creeps in and God reveals that He is bigger than my doubts and they seem to vanish away.
I think that no matter how self-assured we are, at times the questions arise Jim. You have gone to the right place though. Thanks for the comment.
hi Bill,
I’m thinking that we all deal with self-doubts. Do we ever find ourselves confident every single moment of every day? We do struggle. I think that is how we can finally set down in our minds where we stand on an issue is after we have struggled and wrestled with it.
We face temptations regularly. We have to struggle through those until we settle in our minds and put our feet in the paths of God.
I nearly weep when I read about the response of David after his child dies in 2 Samuel 12:19,20.
He has sinned greatly, he has caused the death of his own child, the prophet Nathan says to him that his sin has caused the sword to never leave his house.
He gets up from days of fasting and praying and weeping for his child’s life, freshens up, and the first thing he does is go to the house of the LORD and worship.
Our purpose in life is to worship and obey God.
Who me? Deal with self-doubt? Good point about David. And I was just being silly. I agree that we all do from time to time. Thanks Linda.
The whole year (so far) has been dealing with self-doubt. Thankfully the Father has been turning into a deeper confidence in Him.
Thanks for the encouragement Bill!
I feel for you my friend. I honestly believe God has birthed a dream in your heart but it may take some time to come to fruit. If it helps any, I am praying daily for you. Thanks for coming by Jay.
Bill,
Oh, my friend…there is just something so wonderful about warfare postings.
It is refreshing to not see the ‘woe is me, I’m a bad person, boo-hoo-hoo’ nonsense that is so prevalent out here.
Your words here stoked the fire in me akin to tossing a gasoline-filled thermos onto a raging bonfire. (not that I’ve ever done that….um, no.)
Thanks, Bill!
I’m grinning Donald since I simply cannot see you stoke that fire with gasoline. Nope not you. Thanks for the kind words my friend.
Self doubt, for sure. Discovered as an imposter (at home, at work, in relationships)–something need to constantly surrender to Christ and chose to believe what God says about me in His word.