Your Questions Won't Break Your Faith—Here's Why 

[Ben Light] Have you ever experienced a time in your life when God felt distant? Or when something happening in your life made you begin to question God's love for you? When a specific argument that you heard someone make online got you wondering, what if they're right?

It seems like a rhetorical question, but struggles with faith are common. We are human, and as part of that human experience, we go through highs and lows in our life. If we experience times of happiness and sadness, energy and exhaustion, even times of strong faith and times when we experience doubts.

Sometimes these questions can be huge and related to the most foundational aspects of our faith. Is God even there? What if I'm wrong about my beliefs?

Being a Christian while wrestling with these sorts of questions can feel contradictory. How can I identify as a follower of Christ but still have questions and experience doubts? Does the mere presence of questions or even moments of doubt mean that I don't have faith? Can having questions and doubts lead us to an even greater relationship with God in the long term? Can you seek God while still having questions?

Sometimes the presence of these things can feel like a betrayal, especially when you've gone through seasons of strong faith and you've seen God's hand in your life. You've seen Him work powerfully and bring you through difficult circumstances before. Why is this time different? Why are you doubting some things?

There's a powerful example that's recorded for us in the Gospel of Mark. A father brings his young son to Jesus. The boy had been experiencing challenges from his childhood. He'd been plagued by a demon. The young boy would seize up. He would foam at the mouth and he would go rigid when an episode would come on. But even more significant, the demon would cause the boy to throw himself into the fire and into the water in an effort to destroy him.

Put yourself in this father's shoes for a moment. Can you imagine the anguish at seeing his beloved child experience this ordeal? Being helpless to stop it. He's been dealing with this since his childhood. It's nearly cost him his life several times. Mute, unable to live a normal life. And then you hear of this man, Jesus of Nazareth, who's been able to heal people with difficult situations just like this.

In the account, the father describes how he had brought his son to Christ's disciples and they weren't able to cast the demon out. He desired healing. He desired compassion. desired mercy. Christ addressed the lack of faith that he saw and he called for the young boy. The boy came into Christ's presence. The demon immediately took hold and the boy seized and convulsed, foaming at the mouth and rolling on the ground. Christ tells the father, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." The father with tears in his eyes exclaims to Christ, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24). The spirit was cast out and the man's son was made whole again.

It is okay for us to ask questions and to cry out for help as this young boy's father did. In fact, it's important that we do. If we bring those questions to God, if we ask for His guidance in seeking out answers, God helps us to develop our faith and to become spiritually stronger.

Apostle Paul wrote to the brethren in Thessalonica that they should test all things and hold fast to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The implication being that there would be some things that would not prove to be good and those things should be rejected.

But what about that which was good? It should be held on to, nurtured, strengthened, and continued. While it can be scary to experience big questions about our faith, it's important that we don't brush them off for fear that it makes us any less of a Christian by experiencing them. God desires that we examine ourselves to seek the truth from Him.

God is the source of that which is true. God doesn't expect us to have all of the answers. That's why he gave us His Word. If we are seeking truth and if we're looking for answers everywhere except our Bibles and the Word of God, we are looking in all the wrong places.

So, how can we ask questions productively without getting overwhelmed or giving into doubt?

Examination and growth are important aspects of following God and His way of life. Our Christianity is a process in which we grow. As such, God must be involved in our growth. Ask Him your big questions. In prayer, bring the things that you're grappling with, the things you're wrestling with, and ask Him to lead you to the answer in His Word. Have those hard conversations with God.

David had these kind of conversations with God frequently. In Psalm 26:2, he asked God, "Examine me, O Lord. Prove me. Try my mind and my heart." No one knows us better than God. He knows what we still don't understand and what truths we need to learn in order to grow. And sometimes those truths can be hard to hear.

It's important to ask the big questions, but you also need to remain open to His answer. Sometimes we ask the questions that we ask and we're looking for a specific response. We want to see God agree with us or that we feel strongly about a certain topic and we're looking for ways that we can support that position based on the Word of God. God is God. We are not. He can take the big questions, the hard questions, but through this process, be prepared to receive hard answers and be willing to accept those answers even if there are times that we may not fully understand.

Write down the questions you have. Don't be ashamed of them. God and His Word can stand up to scrutiny. Seek God for the answers. Questions don't make you any less of a Christian. In fact, they have the potential to grow your faith and deepen your relationship with God. The key is what do we do with those questions? Whether we let them pull us away from God or whether we bring them to Him and we let His Word shape our thinking.

So don't be afraid of it. Next time you have a question, sit with it. Ask God for help and investigate His word to find the answer. God's inviting us into a relationship with Him. He desires us to enter that relationship willingly and openly in His time and in His way. He is willing to guide us to the answers that we need. Just ask.

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