I've been thinking about doubt lately, specifically when Christians have doubts. I've been considering how Jesus deals with doubters.
In Luke, chapter 9, a father comes to Jesus's disciples to have a devil cast out of his son, but the disciples are unable to cast it out. Jesus, having just returned from his transfiguration, comes upon the scene, and the father tells him the problem.
Jesus tells the father, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." I think Jesus must have been speaking directly to the heart of this desperate father. This father has surely believed and been let down many times. Jesus asks him to believe one more time, knowing how discouraged and full of doubt he is.
Verse 24 tells us, "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."
The father wants desperately to believe this man can save his son. He knows there is doubt in him, and he begs Jesus to help him believe.
Jesus knows the heart of the man. In that moment he doesn't address the admitted doubt. He simply casts out the devil, takes the son by the hand, and helps him stand. In doing so, he lovingly granted both requests.
The second story that came to my mind is, of course, that of Doubting Thomas found in John 20. Thomas takes a lot of flak for his doubts, but I see the story a little differently than some see it.
Jesus appears to the disciples when Thomas isn't present. When the others tell Thomas of it, he says, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Eight days later, Jesus appears when Thomas is present and speaks directly to Thomas. "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." Jesus knows what Thomas had said, and he addresses it specifically.
While we see Thomas proclaiming he will not believe unless he touches Jesus's side, and we see Jesus offering to let him touch his side, we do not see Thomas actually touch Jesus's side. Instead, in the moment he sees and speaks to the risen savior, we see Thomas worship Jesus as "my Lord and my God." It turns out Thomas was easier to convince than even he believed he would be.
In both of these instances, Jesus does not hesitate or needlessly berate the doubter. He meets the doubter's requirements. He casts the devil out of the man's son. He offers his scarred side to Thomas's touch.
He does tell Thomas that those who believe without seeing are blessed because of it, but he doesn't rebuke him beyond that simple statement.
Like the desperate father in Luke 9, and like Thomas the Doubter in John 20, if we bring our doubts humbly and honestly before God, it is no heavy lifting for him to relieve them. He is more than equal to the task. And like Thomas, we may be easier to convince than we expect.
