Doubt Begins by Asking, “Did God Actually Say?”

From the beginning, Satan was pretty clever.  The question did not really appear to be a threat.  It was not obvious that Satan was trying to destroy Eve’s perfect relationship with God, nor was it obvious that he was trying to lure her away from all that is “good.”  He was just asking questions about a tree in the garden.  The tree probably was both appealing and intriguing.

Eve had every opportunity to pull away from Satan at this point and say, “God told me it’s bad.  I fully trust Him!”  But, instead, she had a conversation with the enemy and entertained Satan’s suggestions:

·       Did God really mean what He said?

·       Would God make something that I shouldn’t have?

·       How bad can that tree really be?  It looks so appealing!

At this point, an age-long battle began and we have been fighting it ever since!  Satan introduced Adam, Eve, and the world to doubt.

·       Every human from this point forward would be introduced to faith-destroying doubt. 

·       Every person would be tempted to look at God’s way of doing things and wonder if God really knows what He’s doing. 

Satan began the process of breaking hearts, burdening lives, and corrupting minds with these simple words, “Did God actually say…?”  This faith-destroying doubt in God’s word takes a number of different forms these days:

·       Some people doubt that the Bible we have today is the “real” Bible.

·       Some people doubt that an English translation can convey the meaning of the original language effectively enough to live a godly life.

·       Some people doubt the Bible is without errors.

There are so many ways to cast doubt upon the very words of God.  It is convenient to doubt what the Bible says because when we come to a hard teaching, we can simply ask, “Did God actually say…?” and then dismiss the things we don’t like. The image at the top is the “Jefferson Bible.”  Thomas Jefferson literally took a pen knife and cut out the parts of his Bible that he didn’t agree with.

When we doubt the clear teaching of God’s Word, it doesn’t give birth to freedom and life.  It instead opens up a doorway leading to a new knowledge of evil.  It is knowledge that is not good at all because it leads to death.  

Consider James 1:14-15, “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

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