Questioning and doubting: What God can ‘handle’
“God can handle our doubts.”
“I’m just asking questions.”
Those and similar statements are common refrains among skeptics of Christianity, progressives and deconstructionists. What they mean by them can vary from person to person, and often require further conversation. But they would generally agree that God is OK with what they call questioning and doubting.
Is that true? As with any question involving God, let’s see what He reveals in His word.
Luke’s gospel includes two stories, in the same chapter, that shed some light on questions and doubts, and show that there’s a very significant difference between them.
I’ll go over them out of chronological order:
Mary’s question
In Luke 1:26-38, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus. Mary responds with a question: “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (verse 34).
Mary could not understand how she would become pregnant, since she was a virgin (the question, by the way, proves the virgin birth; it would make no sense otherwise). So she straightforwardly asked how it was possible. Nothing indicates that her question arose from any sense of doubt or disbelief; it was a question of wonder and reverent awe.
Gabriel had no problem with Mary asking this question, and that’s evidenced by the fact that he gave her a friendly, straightforward answer: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you.” She would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit.
With the question answered, the only other thing Mary said was in obedient submission: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” The word translated “maidservant” is doule, the feminine form of the Greek word for slave.
Mary’s attitude was exemplary, and there’s every reason to believe it was so even before she asked her question. She was quick to heed the Lord’s messenger, for she knew the power and character of her Lord. She loved Him and eagerly gave herself to Him to do with as He pleased, surrendering any sense of autonomy.
Zacharias’ doubt
Earlier in the chapter, Gabriel appeared to Zacharias the priest, to tell him that his wife, Elizabeth, would give birth to John the Baptist.
Like Mary, Zacharias responded with a question, and it was very similar to hers: “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years” (verse 18). He also was perplexed because this would be a miraculous conception.
But notice the slightly different way he worded his question: “How shall I know this?” While the subject and verb of Mary’s question were about the miracle — “this be” — the subject and verb of Zacharias’ question pertained to himself — “I know.” Put another way, his question was, how am I to be satisfied that this is true? Prove this to me.
Zacharias was saying he wouldn’t believe it until he could make sense of it. That’s not belief; that’s skepticism. Zacharias should not have needed to know anything more; the word of an angel should be enough: “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God.”
And so, Gabriel was displeased with Zacharias’ question — flat-out telling him in verse 20 that it was unbelief — and took him out to the woodshed, making him mute until John was born. That’s how you’ll know this, Zach.
The issue is our attitude
Unlike Mary, Zacharias made himself the judge of what was true or not true. It was an attitude that he was his own authority. That’s insurrection against God, as it usurps His Lordship. It makes God answer to us.
Gabriel proved that God is not OK with such self-assertion. It is sin. It’s the rebellion of the devil himself, whose temptation of humanity to doubt the word of God is first seen in the garden of Eden: “Has God indeed said?”
It’s our attitude that determines whether God accepts our questions. If our belief depends on the answers, if we’re seeking to make God conform to our sensibilities, if we’re cross-examining Him like a suspect on trial, then our questions are an offense against Him.
Sometimes, it’s not that they’re “just asking questions”; it’s that they don’t want them answered. They bristle at answers, especially if they’re not what they want to hear. What they want is uncertainty. When someone complains that Christians and churches have a problem with questions, I’ll reply, I’m fine with questions; are you OK with answers?
As far as doubts, there’s room to disagree with others’ interpretations, but when you know deep down what God has clearly revealed, if we can’t accept that because we just don’t want to, we’re in rebellion against Him. I’ll cry from the mountaintop with slam-dunk certainty that it is never, ever OK to doubt the Most High God. “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?” (Romans 9:20). Anyone who claims otherwise just wants to sanctify their unbelief.
God can “handle” our doubts in that He doesn’t strike us dead on the spot, which He has every right to do. He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger. If we have repentant hearts and trust in Christ, our doubts have been forgiven and nailed to the cross with all our other sins. Even though Zacharias was mercifully disciplined for his attitude, verse 6 calls him “righteous before God.” He repented.
But the self-serving, insubordinate questions of rebellious unbelievers add to the cup of wrath that God is storing up for them unless they turn to Christ.
Instead, be like Mary: I am Your servant, no matter what You say. I trust You even when I don’t understand. I cherish Your words like honey and want nothing more than to submit myself to them. All I want to know is You and Your ways and Your truth, which is the only truth. Not my will but Yours be done.
