Doubt Your Doubts!

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (Genesis 3:1-5)
 
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
 

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple … 11 By them your servant is warned, in keeping them there is great reward.  (Psalm 19:7&11)
The Devil has a favourite weapon. It’s the one he used on Adam and Eve. Since the voice of God is powerful enough to create the universe and to transform the life every believer, the Devil tempts us to doubt what God’s Word says. His first attack usually comes in the form of a subtle question: “Did God really say…?” If we entertain such doubts, he follows up, as he did with Eve. He gets bolder and outright contradicts God’s Word: “You will not certainly die.”
 
Eve should have known better than to listen to the voice of snake instead of the Voice of God. She should have declared the truth of God’s Word and fought back against the Devil with the shield of faith that is described in Ephesians 6:16. Instead, Eve tried to debate with the Devil and she lost. We always do. He is known as the Deceiver for a reason. He is skilled at telling lies. The Lord calls us to resist him, not reason with him.

The Devil tempted Eve into exaggerating the restrictions that he had placed on her life. She told the snake that she had been forbidden from touching the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which wasn’t true. Psalm 19 tells us that God’s Word is perfect – in other words, whenever we add to it or take away from it, we make it less than perfect and therefore easier to disobey. So let’s believe the Bible when it tells us that its every word is God-breathed and that we need to devour and believe all of it to be fully equipped to partner with God in the world.
1)   Why do you think we find it easy to doubt the Bible as the Word of God?

2)   How can we ‘doubt our doubts’ instead? Looking back at Genesis 3:1-5, how might Eve have chosen to feed her faith and to doubt her doubts?

3)   Write down one or two powerful Bible promises that you are most tempted to doubt. Bring them to the Lord in prayer and ask the same thing as the man in Mark 9:24 – “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Father God, I do believe that every word you speak is true. I do believe that the Bible is God-breathed. Forgive me for doubting what it says and help me to overcome my unbelief. Help me to believe your Word always. Amen.
If you have time, consider carrying on your conversation with God using one of our helpful Prayer Pathways.
Today’s Everyday Devotions have also inspired a devotional video that you can watch on our YouTube channel.