David Asks Why Ch12 What to do with your doubts?

Sometimes people have a hard time believing in God.  This is called doubt. New Christians, especially, have trouble  with doubt. There are lots of things in the Bible that you just cant  understand, so Satan wants you to believe that none of it is true. Do  you want to get rid of doubt?

 Do you want to be able to believe  with all your heart? God gives us lots of things to help us believe. God is  real and He's really good. Everything He says in the Bible is  true and we have good reasons to believe it. But we can still doubt if  we want to. 

We can believe because  we have good reasons to believe, but God doesnt prove  everything. There will always be some things that are hard to understand and reasons not to believe them if you dont want to. But if you want to believe, you can always find plenty of reasons to do so and God will help you believe. 

Your mind is too small and not smart enough to  understand God completely. He is so big and wonderful that even  the smartest, most educated person in the whole world cant  understand everything about God! 

Job, in the Bible, says, 

Do you  think you can understand God by trying really hard? 

Can you get  to I need to know God perfectly? 

He's as high as heaven, so what do you  think you can do? 

Understanding Him is so deep that we can  never expect to know everything about Him Job 11:7

Paul, the apostle, says, Knowing God and His wisdom   is so deep! He judges fairly when we wouldnt even   understand  what to do! We could never understand the way that God works 

Romans 11:33    

Oh, how great are God’s riches

 and wisdom and knowledge! 

How impossible it is for us to 

understand his decisions and his ways!

But even though there are somethings about God that we cant understand, we can know that He is  holy and fair 

Psalm 97.12

Rejoice in the Lord, ye

you righteous and 

give thanks at the

remembrance of his holiness

We certainly can understand enough  about God and the way He treats us to see that He loves us  and is kind. We can also see that He is very strong. How much can  we understand about God?

We can understand just  enough to help us. He lets us understand whats best for us to  understand. For anything more than that, we can trust Him because He  is strong and He Loves us. Ever since people started disobeying God, there have  been some things too hard for us to understand. We cant  ever totally understand how Jesus became a person or how He  woke up from being dead. We can never really understand how God  is able to give someone a brand new heart. 

There are a lot of  things in the Bible that we cant completely understand. But thats  no reason to not believe in God After all, there are lots of things  in life that we cant understand. Little bugs and germs and other kinds of life are very  simple to God, but the smartest men in the world cant figure out everything about them. 

There are things everywhere in nature  that we cant understand, so we shouldnt be surprised that there are  things about God that we dont understand 

The problem is  that sometimes people dont want to believe. in the Bible, God has  given us plenty of good reasons to believe in Him, so we must not doubt just because we cant understand. 

Peter, the disciple, says, There are things in the Bible  that are hard to understand. People who dont know much   or who only try to be Christians sometimes get strange ideas  from these things and end up not making it to heaven 2  Peter 3.16.

Some people point to these things in the Bible that aríe hard  to understand and say that this is a good reason not to believe  in the Bible at all. But actually, these puzzles can help us  believe that the Bible is Gods Book! If all the things the Bible says about doubt  God were easy to understand and if we know   everything there is to know about God, then how would God be any different from us? 

The Bible shows us how big and strong and  awesome God really is. lt shows us that He is the kind of God we  can believe in The Bible teaches us true things and makes it easy for us  understand many things. God knew just what to say in  the Bible so that we could learn the very things we need to know   when we read it.

 The Bible is exciting and interesting enough for  the smartest people, but it is simple enough that it can teach  anyone how to be saved. The things that the Bible teaches us about how to be   saved are so big and great and wonderful that we can never   understand them completely. 

So we have to believe that  everything it says is true, because God said so. in the Bible, God tells us how to believe in Jesus and be saved. He has a plan to save us,  and we can know what we need to do. But there are things about   Gods plan that we dont fully understand, so we study more and  try to know  God better every day. 

God likes it when we try to get  to know Him better. The more we try to figure out the Bible, the  more we will know that it is Gods Book , and the more we will see   how great the Bible is. If you admit that you cant understand everything in the Bible, you’re just saying that you are not as big as God is.

 People who dont  love God and who want to doubt  choose not to pay attention to anything the Bible says. 

They want  to do away with it. Even some people who say they believe the  Bible have the same problem. 

If you choose not to believe, you will  turn away from God 

Hebrews 3:12

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.

You should carefully study  the things in the Bible that are hard to understand. You should be  curious and look for Gods answers 

1 Corinthians 2.10      God’s Spirit has shown you everything. His Spirit finds out everything, even what is deep in the mind of God.

There are  some things well never understand, but some things only seem to.  be too hard to understand. If we study, God will teach us those   things 

Deuteronomy 29:29    The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all of the words of this law.

Satan likes to make us lazy. He doesnt like curious   people. Some people feel bad if they cant understand every  verse in the Bible. Theyre embarrassed to admit they dont  understand the Bible They dont want to wait for God to teach them.  

They think that their minds should be good enough to understand   whatever they want to understand, and when they cant, they throw out the whole Bible and say that its a bunch of lies 

Sometimes people say that the Bible teaches   something that it really doesnt teach at all. it may be something that  someone just made up, lt may he something that goes against  everything that the Bible really teaches. This can confuse people   and make them doubt God. If we could understand God completely, then we  wouldnt have any more growing to do. 

We wouldnt have  anything else to learn, and our hearts wouldnt have any room to grow.  

Then God wouldnt be smarter than we are. We should be so thankful that thats not the way it  works! God is bigger than anything else and then still bigger than  that! He has many, many things to teach us

Colossians 2:3  In Him all the treasures of [divine] wisdom 

(comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and

 [all the riches of spiritual] knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden.

For ever and ever, we can still search and learn and grow and still  understand only a little bit of how smart and good and strong  our God really is. Even now God wants us always to be learning more  about Him and growing. 

God will light up our minds by His Holy Spirit - this is the only way we can learn more about the Bible. 

We  can understand truth about God only when the Holy Spirit helps  us He will teach us the deepest secrets about God 

1 Corinthians  2:11  Who can read your mind?  You are the only one who knows what is in your own mind and God’s Spirit is the only one who knows what is in God’s mind

 Jesus said, When the Holy Spirit comes into your   heart, He will teach you everythinq that is true. He will show you  everything about Me

John 16:13, 14   The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.

God wants you to think. When you study the Bible, it  lifts your mind and teaches you to think like nothing else  can. 

But be careful not to think yourseIf too smart, because you  can still become confused or not understand something that  you should. It is easier, sometimes, for little children to believe and  trust God than it is for grown ups. But everyone must be  willing to learn and listen to the Holy Spirit if they want to   understand the Bible.

Be ready to learn and ask the Holy Spirit to teach  you. You need to know that you need God. You're never so  good that you can do without Him.  If you remember how  strong and smart He is, you will never forget this. When you study  the Bible, you should come before God quietly and lovingly. 

  Remember that God is bigger than you are and that you need   to obey  Him. Love and worship Him with all your heart and  remember that He is the God who has been around forever and   will never  go away. 

Many things may seem hard to understand at first, but  God will help you understand if you just ask Him and try to  understand. But if you dont let Gods Holy Spirit help you,  Youll always get mixed up!

 Sometimes you can read the Bible or listen to it and just end up confused. When you dont treat  the Bible reverently and you dont pray to God for help or when  you dont think about God and obey what you understand  you'll get confused and sad and will have a hard time believing at all. 

Then you'll end up being more confused than ever, and  Satan can take over your thoughts and give you all sorts of  strange ideas about the Bible. Even if people are really smart, theyre probably going  to make mistakes in understanding the Bible if they dont really want to know what God wants them to do.

 Dont listen to what  someone like this may tell you. If people are just looking for  reasons to believe that the Bible isnt important, they wont be  able to understand much at all. Theyll find all sorts of things to   make the Bible hard to understand, and even the simple, easy things  will become confusing to them.

Do you want to know why most people doubt and have  trouble believing the Bible? Usually, its because that person   loves to sin. The Bible is Gods Word, and it tells us things that we   must do or must stop doling. If someone loves to sin and disobey, he   or she doesnt want to believe that the Bible is true. 

If you want to really know what is true and right, you   have to want to know it enough to obey it. If you decide, When I find out what God wants, I will obey, then you'll find   lots of reasons to believe the Bible. If you choose to obey, then  you will begin to understand many things that you need to  know to be saved. 

Jesus said, If a person wants to do what God asks, He will be able to understand the things that he needs to understand .John7:17 instead of asking and fussing and worrying about all the things in the Bible that you dont understand, pay attention to what you already know. If you do this, youll learn more. 

With Gods love and power making you strong, you should do everything you know you’re supposed to do. Then you will start to understand the things that you havent been able to understand before. Everyone can look at the things that have happened in their own lives. 

That is something that everyone has that is a good reason for believing. Do you want to know if God is telling the truth? You can prove it. Learn to know Him 

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.

If we obey Him and start counting on Him to make you strong. Hell give you a new heart if you ask Him for one. 

Dont just believe what someone else tells you. God always keeps His promises. He always will. When you let God stay close to you, all of your doubt and sadness will go away. Paul, Jesus special friend, says that God has made us free from darkness and has made us His children 

Colossians 1:13 God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son, 

Everyone who gets a new heart and a new life can know that God is true 

John 3:33  But everyone who does believe him has shown that God is truthful.

That person can tell everyone that Jesus helped him or her when he or she needed it that Jesus gave him or her everything he or she needed. That person can say, The Bible shows me Jesus. 

I believe in Jesus because He is God and He has saved me. I believe in the Bible because thats how God talks to me. You can know your own heart that the Bible is real and true and that Jesus is God’s Son. 

We know that this is not a lie in the Bible, Peter tells us to keep growing in Jesus  love and power. Keep learning more about Him because He saved us

2 Peter 3:18  Let the grace (wonderful kindness) and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you to keep on growing. Praise Jesus now and forever! Amen.

When God's people grow the way they’re supposed to, theyll understand the Bible more and more. 

They will learn new and beautiful things. This is how it has been with Christians for as long as there have been Christians, and it will always be this way.

The road that the good man walks on will get clearer and easier to see as he goes on, just like walking in the morning when the sun is coming up

Proverbs 4:18  The lifestyle of good people  is like sunlight at dawn  that keeps getting brighter until broad daylight.

You can trust God to make you smarter and to make your heart more like His. You can become better and better friends with Him. You can be happy because, even though sometimes you have been confused or upset by things that have happened to you, God will explain everything someday. Even though you had a hard time understanding things before, God will show you how everything will work out beautifully in the end. 

1 Corinthians 13:12

 Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture  in a mirror. Later we will see him  face to face. We don’t know everything, but then we will, just as God completely  understands us.