Beyond BeliefExemplo

Struggling with doubt or questions can be a very lonely experience. We feel shame for doubting. We wonder why we're not "wise enough" or "smart enough" to figure out the answers to all our questions about God on our own. We look at other people who seem to have a really strong sense of faith and wonder why we can't just be more like them.

So, instead of asking our questions or exploring our doubts, we lock them away so that nobody will ever know they exist. We're worried that if anybody knew how many doubts we actually have, they'd kick us out of our faith communities. So we just pretend the questions don't exist, and hope that the doubt will go away.

We might be able to fool some people with this . . . but we can't fool God. And you know what? That's perfectly okay. God doesn't expect you to never have doubts or questions. In fact, God tells us right in the Bible what we can do with those questions when we have them. God invites our questions.

God instructs us to ask for wisdom so that we can get better at exploring our doubts and seeking answers to the questions we have. We don't have to pretend to have all the answers, and we don't need to bury our questions. God is willing to walk with us through all of our doubts. God invites us into that journey. All we have to do is ask.