Question on Doubt / Not Feeling God May 23rd, 2015 Ed RomeroGot Questions Writers May 22, 2015 How do you counsel someone who prays and reads the Bible but doubts because she doesn’t feel Him? Like · Comment Craig Simons I had doubts for quite a long time but I grabbed hold of God by faith/fact. I rested on the facts, not how I felt. Feelings vary and not only that can be deceiving. The facts are what they are. As the Scripture declares, “the heart is deceitful above all things” and “without faith, it’s impossible to please God.” 17 hrs · Edited · Like · 5 Ed Romero So, what did you do, brother Craig? 20 hrs · Like Ed Chait I would ask her what she expects in terms of feeling Him, just to have some idea of where she is at. 20 hrs · Like · 1 Ed Romero Good idea, Ed! 20 hrs · Like · 1 Jeff LairdI’m more or less on board with Craig. The bible says we’re transformed by the renewing of our minds, not our emotions. The more we commune with Him, the louder that voice gets. I’ve suggested to people before that they follow revealed truth, and learn to interpret feelings as they go. If memory serves, Ravi Zacharias did a message on “why don’t I feel my faith? “, but I don’t know if it was about this specifIc issue. Can probably find it on the RZIM website. 20 hrs · Like · 2 Ed Romero Thanks, Jeff! What about just doubt in general. I can share with her that it’s not primarily about feelings; it doesn’t address her doubt 20 hrs · Like Ed Chait One thing that was helpful to me was hearing that God is like the wind, you can see the effect of the wind on tress and many things, but you can’t see it. God is working in her life, but again, maybe she is expecting to see and feel Him in a way that does not require faith. 20 hrs · Edited · Like · 1 Jeff LairdI’d say doubt, of a certain kind, is normal. Even a sign of an honest faith. Many Biblical figures expressed doubts to and about God. I think people who sometimes struggle with belief are more open to truth, and grow into a more mature faith, than those who gobble down a religious system without question. Encourage her to follow the Berean path (acts 17:11), and to let her “testing of all things” ease her momentary doubts or struggles. 20 hrs · Like · 3 Laurel J. Davis I’m wondering if any of her question (and doubt, maybe) comes from being around “hyper-spiritual” people who seem to have some personal “experience” with God/Holy Spirit on a regular basis, and she’s not. Everything from speaking in tongues to being slain in the Spirit to “God spoke to me and said”. 19 hrs · Like · 4 Craig Simons I made the decision to believe God’s word. Whenever the doubts crept up, I’d just pray and/or mediate through it and weather the storm of doubt. 19 hrs · Like · 3 Dale AgnerI love this question, as “learning to fly by instruments” has provided an analogy that I can understand. I do not fly a plane by what I “feel”, but based upon instruments. When in the clouds…(and for analogy purposes, the clouds of life), the surest way to crash is to “trust my feelings”. God’s Word provides the “instruments of life”. Continue to trust the instruments; read, pray, be FULLY ENGAGED IN TAKING OFF THE OLD MAN AND PUTTING ON THE NEW MAN (as discussed in Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3). Be ruthless in transparency (confession) with God and others (now, as in a physician’s office, you don’t “bare” yourself to everyone…but to an appropriate person able to address the issue). When my “emotions” are not engaged (or seem to be on empty)…I do the above, and PRAY THE PSALMS, as the Psalms often will match the many emotions of life. When I do not “feel”…I do the above…and I also find ways to reach out in love to others (calling, writing, acts of service, words of encouragement, etc). 19 hrs · Edited · Like · 4 Patrick Thompsonthere is an old illustration from Campus Crusade For Chirst that pictures a locomotive, coal car, and caboose going down the track. the locomotive represents Fact, or what we know to be true on the basis of the Word of God. The Coal car represents Faith, which represents our beliefs, our assurance and trust in certain truths as revealed in the Bible. The caboose represents Feeling, which represents our subjective, emotional impressions and sensitiveness. While the train will run with or without the caboose, it does not move without the coal being shoveled into the furnace from the coal car. Facts stand on their own. However, without faith they merely stand there. While it is satisfying and exciting to feel close to God, that does not mean that when you don’t feel that closeness that you are not close to Him. Feelings come and go. It is the nature of the emotional life. This is why it is so useless and damaging to put our trust in feelings. 13 hrs · Like · 4 Tim White We can turn our feelings into idols. We can even try to bargain with God that if He will guide us through how we feel, we will be better. Matt. 16:24-25 “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” 4 hrs · Like · 3 Dean RevellLike what has already been said we must learn to trust in the promises of scripture even when we feel cold experimentally. I agree with words in the hymn by Isaac Watts “we are marching to Zion” that religion was never meant to be pleasureless. Indeed, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Sometimes because of sin or because of our psychology can determine how we feel. Having had borderline clinical depression since 2009 I can sympathise with psalm 42! 4 hrs · Like · 2 Ed Romero Wonderful insights! 4 hrs · Like · 1
