Is It Just Me?: Learning to Trust God in the Middle of Hurts, Doubts, and FearsSample

When God Is Silent

It’s okay to be a Christian and experience times when you wonder where God is. It’s okay not to be a Christian and be skeptical about God.

But while it is okay to struggle with doubt, and it is normal to struggle with doubt—and I don’t want you to be ashamed for struggling with doubt—when you stay in your doubt, you’re missing out on true faith.

Don’t feel guilty for doubting, but also don’t feel stuck in your doubt. Jesus is bigger than any doubt you have. There is hope. 

Matthew, Mark, and Luke give accounts of a time the disciples were in a boat without Jesus and a bad storm came upon them. The disciples had just witnessed Jesus miraculously feed more than five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. When they saw a dark figure walking on water during the storm, they didn’t recognize that it was Jesus. Instead, they yelled, “It’s a ghost!” (Matthew 14:26).

I’ve seen Jesus do some pretty amazing things. Yet, I still doubt.

I fail to see Jesus, because I’m too busy assuming it isn’t Him. He could be walking on water right in front of me, but because I am living with doubt, not faith, I don’t recognize Him. I call His work in my life a “coincidence” or just “chance.”

Jesus wants us to find Him in the chaos.

He is still there. He isn’t hiding from you. He’s just waiting for you and me to open our eyes. He is waiting for us to remove the doubt from our lens and see Him for who He is—a Savior who loves us and who doesn’t need human language to communicate with us.

We serve a Jesus who can walk on water, move mountains, and make the sun rise. It would be boring if He used His voice instead of using life situations to speak to us.

So, how do we hear God? We hear Him in the quiet moments we experience while reading His Word. We hear Him in the silence. We hear Him when we finally pray as if being in His arms is more important than being anywhere else. When we finally stop our racing thoughts and focus on Him, we can feel and hear His presence.

We hear Him with every rejection, knowing that is His protection. We hear Him with every sunrise and see Him in the rainbows. We see Him through every friend who has had arms open to hug us when we needed it.

If we look for Him, we can see God every day.

He may not come how we prefer.

He may not come how we expect.

But He’s there. And on the days we can’t feel Him, we must not be praying or noticing Him. It is our problem, not His.

To you, my friend, who struggles to hear and feel God, drop your expectations. Pray right now and stop praying like you have somewhere more important to be. Stop putting time constraints on God and let Him control the conversation. Stop being scared of silence and give Him the opportunity to speak to you through His Word, through truth that enters your thoughts and your life.

Open your eyes today and see Him in the little things. Yes, He is a mystery, but He’s a beautiful mystery I know to be true. And He’s a beautiful mystery I believe you, too, know is greater than your doubts.

Respond 

1. Have you ever said, “It’s a coincidence”, when actually God was doing something in your life? If so, when?

2. In what ways do you hear God speak in your everyday life? Ask God to help you be aware of His presence with you throughout the day.

3. Is it difficult for you to be still physically and in your thoughts? Why or why not?