When Faith is Shaken

Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ! I want to start by telling you how grateful I am to be here this morning. It is an incredible honor to have the opportunity to worship and serve the LORD with you at Vision of Hope. Thank you for counting me as a brother in Christ. You may not realize it, but you inspire me.

The Holy Spirit has pressed upon my heart and Pastor Paul’s heart to speak on faith these past few weeks. One thing we will NOT do is avoid the tough stuff. Faith can be messy sometimes, Amen?

This morning, we are going to look at when our Faith is Shaken. Everybody has had doubts, will doubt, or knows someone who is going through doubt.

We all have doubts…

But what about your relationship with God? Your faith… How does doubt play into our faith? When it comes to our relationship with God, it becomes a little more difficult to admit that we have doubts, doesn’t it?

Why is that? Are “Good Christians” supposed to lie about their doubts or hide from their doubts? Are we not supposed to talk about it? Does God throw us away because we sometimes doubt or we struggle with our faith? Absolutely not!

Let’s define what doubt is…

Doubt - To hesitate to believe or to question.

That’s what it means… But here’s what it doesn’t mean… Doubt is not unbelief. Doubt is when we struggle to believe. Everybody has had doubts, will doubt, or knows someone going through doubt.

Do you know how many of the disciples experienced doubt? All of them. One even earned a nickname, Doubting Thomas. I probably would have been right there with him. Doubting the things that Jesus said.

I think one of the most significant examples of doubt occurs in Matthew 28. Let’s put ourselves there for a minute. Jesus has risen from the grave and is getting ready to ascend to Heaven, so he wants to meet up with the remaining eleven disciples. Here is what scripture tells us in Matthew 28:16-17

Matthew 28:16–17 NLT

16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

These are the same men who walked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, witnessed the miracles, and met with the Risen Christ.

I had to ask, “Why would the author, why would Matthew include that some doubted!” The idea that His disciples doubted does not instill much confidence! Maybe the author was trying to show us that doubt is normal. Our faith is going to be shaken at times. We are all going to struggle with our faith at some point.

What brings about those times of doubt? In my experience as a Pastor, a counselor, and in my own life, I have found that doubt is often based in fear, pain, trauma, and loss of hope. We will find ourselves in a moment or even a season of loss, hurt, or pain, and we start thinking God has abandoned us or that God is not there at all.

Last week, when Pastor Paul spoke on Hope as a cornerstone of faith, he ended with Romans 15:13

Romans 15:13 NLT

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have thought about this a lot. Why would the Apostle Paul feel the need to pray for believers to be filled with peace, joy, and the hope of the LORD? I mean, aren’t we automatically filled with those things when we are saved by Grace? Don’t joy peace, and hope overflow us all the time? No. Sometimes, we have to look for God’s Hand in our lives and in the lives of others.

I think sometimes we forget that the authors of the Bible were divinely inspired by God. They were REAL PEOPLE TALKING TO REAL PEOPLE. This is a real letter written to real people. Today, we have the Living Word of God reaching across time to speak to OUR hearts and minds. We have Holy Spirit to teach us and to encourage us.

If we were to break it down, the reason our faith is shaken at times is because we are measuring our faith against the peace and hope we have already experienced in Him. You can’t experience a shaken faith if faith does not exist to start with.

We have experienced the mercy and grace of God in our lives. We have experienced His peace, His joy, and hope in Him. Those times we have watched God come through how only God can.

When God does not act in the way and in the time-frame we expect or how we want, then God must be failing us somehow. GOD DOES NOT FAIL, brothers and sisters.

We all go through storms in this life that challenge our faith. I think about Peter when I feel myself sinking during the storms of life. Peter walking on the water is probably one of the best known stories in the Bible, but there are some things in there that I think we miss sometimes.

In Matthew 14, Jesus tells the disciples to get in the boat and head home without Him. He needed some time away from everybody, including them. I think we can all relate to Jesus in needing some alone time, away from everybody. Amen?

A terrible storm whips up, and the disciples are fighting to keep the boat from sinking. They must have been physically and mentally exhausted! Have you ever felt like you were fighting for your life and it took everything you had just to take another step? That is how the disciples were feeling.

The disciples see Jesus walking on the water towards them! I would have freaked out! In Mark’s Gospel, Mark makes it sound like Jesus comes walking by—kind of like, “Hey guys!” “See you on the other side!”

You have Peter, who is still trying to figure out his faith. He has doubts, but he realizes if Jesus invites him, he can probably walk on water too! So he calls out to Jesus… “Invite me out.” “If you ask me to do it I will be able to.” “But if I do it myself I know I can’t.” I get Peter. It seems like any time I do not put Jesus first in my life, things do not go well for me.

So Jesus says “Come on!” We are going to pick the story up right there.

Matthew 14:29–30 NIV

29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

I LOVE THIS PRAYER! "Lord, save me!” Peter does not know what else to say. Have you ever prayed that prayer? I have more times than I count! “Lord, save me!” Have you been in those storms when you have felt yourself sinking:

That news you get that takes your breath away

Those things that knocked you into the dirt

When things didn't work out the way you thought.

When you thought God’s calling was clear, but things seemed to fall apart.

Jesus called Peter out of the boat. If Jesus calls you to something, He has already made a way for you. Peter was walking on the water toward Jesus! He was doing it!

But something happened. He started to focus on the storm. Something he had no control over. Is there a storm in your life that you have no control over? Peter lost His focus on Jesus because of the overwhelming sense of dread and fear he felt. He doubted.

It is in those moments that doubt starts to creep in. We start hearing the whispers:

Maybe what the Bible says is not true

Maybe God is not good

Maybe He does not care about me

And we start to sink a little, just like Peter.

There were several years in Carolyn and my lives that brought us to a place where our faith was shaken. It was a season of doubt when it seemed the storms would never end. The truth is, I was shattered.

Both of our parents died in terrible ways, my sister died, we lost our business, our car was repossessed, we had to have our dog put to sleep, we almost lost our home, and then Carolyn became very ill; to the point that I had to hand-feed her.

I started losing hope. I started isolating. I was so crushed with grief, living in despair, that I would find myself at work having to hide away somewhere, and I would cry. And I mean CRY. I had nothing left. Has anybody else been there before? It is very real, isn’t it?

My sadness and fear became anger—anger towards God. “God is supposed to be good.” It did not seem like it. “God is supposed to be giving me peace through the storms.” I did not feel peace. Doubt crept in on every level in a way I had not experienced in my walk. Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe you are there. Maybe someone you know is in a storm like that.

Peter teaches us something when we are in the midst of those storms. In those times when we are sinking. When Peter saw the waves and began sinking, he cried out, “Lord, Save Me!” He found himself in a hopeless situation and cried out to the Lord. How did Jesus respond?

Matthew 14:31 NIV

31 Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Don’t miss this…Jesus Immediately catches him.. WHILE he was doubting… Jesus caught him. He doesn’t scold him, but he catches him. And then asks “why did you doubt?” Jesus did not step away, he embraced Peter.

Like Peter, we start to doubt when it looks like things are not going to work out. When things get tough, when the situation seems hopeless.

I think when some of us read this verse, we think Jesus is mad… He’s upset. He’s not. Listen, some of us have good reason to believe that.

Maybe you shared your doubts, maybe you expressed what you were feeling and some well-meaning Christian told you “You can’t feel that way.” “Just believe.” They pointed their finger and told you to stop doubting. Jesus doesn’t point his finger when we call out for him to save us! He extends his hand.

As I said earlier, fear can shake our faith like nothing else. A year or so after this happened with Peter, he would experience fear driven doubt again.

In Luke 22, Jesus was arrested and in the middle of a kangaroo court trial that would find him guilty. Jesus told Peter what was going to happen, but Peter didn’t believe him (more doubt).

People recognized Peter and started asking if he was Jesus' friend, his disciple. Peter denied it and swears he’d never seen Jesus—three times. Not only does he swear it, he swears an oath that he does not know Jesus.

Luke 22:61 NLT

61 At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

At that moment, after his last denial, Peter locks eyes with Jesus. His friend, the person he literally gave up his life to follow.

I’ll bet Peter was expecting Jesus to point his finger and say “I told you so…” “You’ve messed up one to many times Peter.” “You’re done.”

But Jesus doesn’t do that. He doesn’t point his finger. Instead, he again extends his hand, but this time from the cross. He willingly lets himself be nailed to the cross, arms extended, for Peter and for you this morning.

In your doubt, your questions, your storms, Jesus isn’t going to point a finger at you. He extends his hand. When Peter cried out, "Lord, save me," Jesus immediately saved him. That is the gospel message. Out-stretched hands to save you and to save me.

Back to the storm. I want you to notice that Jesus doesn’t explain the storm—he doesn’t offer answers for why it happened.

A lot of times, we doubt, and WE WANT ANSWERS! But God may not give us the answers. He reaches out and runs towards us, but he doesn’t always give us the answers we want.

In your doubt, in my doubt, Jesus' response is the same. He will grab you from the waters and save you from sinking. But that doesn’t mean you will get the answers you want. At least not on this side of heaven…

John 3:17 NIV

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Jesus does not condemn us in our doubts. God reaches down and embraces us. I know that Jesus saved Carolyn and me. Praise God that Carolyn and I both received healing through the prayers of His people and the power of the Spirit of God. God put His people in our lives—many are here today, and some are not—to help us and to point us back to Him. To help us navigate the pain, the fear, and the doubts. That was His hand reaching out and lifting us up.

When we look back on those times, we see the hand of God, the Spirit at work, and His presence all over our lives.

I will guarantee that almost every person in this room and online can point to times their faith was shaken and the Lord reached out and kept them from sinking.

For all the mistakes Peter made, for all the doubts he had, Jesus still chose him. Jesus has chosen you this morning. He knows you by name, and He loves you.

Worship Team

If you are experiencing a shaken faith, share it; don’t hold it in. You are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses today—people who will help you find solid ground.

Jesus is reaching his hand out to you this morning. Will you allow Him to pull you up and embrace you? Will you come up out of the water and get in the boat with him?

Bring your fears, your hurts, and your doubts to the throne of God. I promise you, he can handle it. Allow us to pray for you. Allow us to pray with you. Come talk to Pastor Paul or me. God never intended for you to carry the burdens of fear or doubt alone. God has blessed you.