I would argue that one of the most insidious feeling/thinking anyone ever experiences is doubt. It can stop us from progressing and can arrest our attention without resolving anything. Doubt is rarely a positive force to understanding and can be totally misleading or misdirecting. When scripture warns us that our enemy (1 Peter 5:8) is like a roaring lion seeking whom he can destroy, I believe that doubt is one of his main weapons.
Have you ever asked yourself what doubt leads you to? Has it ever had a positive effect in your feeling or thinking? Do you ever act against your doubt? Webster defines doubt as: “…to be uncertain about (something), to believe that (something) may not be true or is unlikely, to have no confidence in (someone or something); uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making; a deliberate suspension of judgment.” Synonyms are skepticism, suspicion, or mistrust. Minimally, this is a very uncomfortable position in which to be. Is doubt using you? Stopping you? Is doubt leaving you defenseless and impotent?
Is there a flip side to this potentially paralyzing position? Is there any time that doubt can be a constructive force? Obviously, I must be arguing that there is a positive ‘condition’ to doubt. If or when it leads you to asking questions, if it shakes you out of a complacent status quo approach to your life, then this is good. When YOU control the questions from doubt then you can use doubt(s) as a positive force. We need to be alert and engaged and not merely rubber stamp what has always been. And, also without rushing, we need to decide our next, best steps.
Perhaps this is another one of those attitude/character questions? If or when doubt induces fear then we’re not in control of how to respond effectively. When doubt ‘forces’ us to rethink what we’re doing and why, then this may become a positive response to allow us to develop/discover other options to (fill in the blank). While we may not always realize or accept it, we have the control over doubt. We can become overcome by doubt or we can use doubt to ask those hard questions and then move on to resolution. Ignoring or denying questions is never a positive response to doubt – at that time doubt has won. If you want to be the decision-maker in and for your life, then let whatever doubt is ‘saying’ to help you reconsider what you were planning and then to choose how you want to proceed.
Doubt does have 2 faces in my world of definitions. I try to never let doubt control, but use what doubt is ‘telling me’ and overcome.
