Doubt in Light of the Gospel (Psalm 73:18-28)

What good can come out of doubt?

We often think of doubt as a problem to be solved. Maybe there are some instances where that is true. But I think Psalm 73 shows the opportunities that come from doubt.

This week at Grace, we'll be finishing our series in Psalm 73. The last half of the Psalm focuses on how Asaph's perspective (on God, on his neighbors, and on himself) changes as a result of his wrestling with doubts.

I hope that as we finish this wonderful Psalm you'll see how God desires for you to grow in faith during seasons of doubt.

In Christ,
Pastor Bob

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18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
    I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    that I may tell of all your works.

- Psalm 73:18-28

The Impact of Doubt (Psalm 73:10-17)

How do our doubts impact one another?

I'd like to think that my faith is immune from the wanderings of people near me. My faith is based on a personal decision to follow Jesus, not the crowd around me.

I'd also like to make myself irresponsible for the ways my doubts negatively impact the faith of those who are impressionable. After all, don't they have to make their own decisions?

In some ways, this is true. But Scripture also shows how interrelated our faith is. This week at Grace, we'll be continuing our series on doubt from Psalm 73. We're going to talk about how Asaph handles the doubts of his neighbors and what he does (and doesn't do) with his own doubts.

Looking forward to talking about this important Psalm with you!

In Christ,
Pastor Bob

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Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find no fault in them.
And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
    and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
    then I discerned their end.

- Psalm 73:10-17

From Doubt to Faith (Judges 6 + 7)

I probably don't have to tell you that the weather in Seal Beach, CA is nearly perfect all year. "Nice day, huh?" is almost always answered with a "Yep!" However, I've mistakenly elongated my answer with "Yep! This weather is how you know God loves us!" It's an answer meant to be funny, but it unwittingly implies that God doesn't love people in Fresno, CA, where it's above 100 degrees all summer.

That comment is a harmless mistake but reveals a more profound theological distortion we all fall into; "When life is good, God is present and for us. When life is bad, God is absent and against us." This train of thought was undoubtedly present for a guy named Gideon, recorded in Judges 6:1-13.

This week at Grace, we will continue thinking through doubt together. We'll pause Psalm 73 for one week and look at Gideon's life in Judges 6 & 7. He was a man filled with doubt, yet he received a commendation for his faith in Hebrews 11.

I hope we can answer these questions: What is God's disposition toward us when we doubt Him? How does God transform our doubts into faith?

Hope to see you Sunday!
Pastor Chris

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1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 

32 …For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

- Hebrews 11:1-2, 32-34 (ESV)

Doubt and Comparison (Psalm 73:1-9)

For many of us, doubt is a persistent part of our spiritual lives. It is for me. And there are few passages of Scripture that I've found to be more helpful when it comes to doubt than Psalm 73.

Over the next few weeks, we'll work slowly through this beautiful and incisive passage of Scripture. It looks at doubt from a variety of angles - why doubt takes hold, how doubt impacts us, and what to do with doubt.

This week at Grace, we'll begin in Psalm 73:1-9, when the Psalmist (a worship leader named Asaph) describes how doubt almost wrecked him because of the envy he felt toward those who ignored God and yet still seemed to get everything they wanted in life.

Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday at Grace!

In Christ,
Pastor Bob

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Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.

- Psalm 73:1-9