Providence – God’s fore-provision for all His aims – creation and perpetuation of all, including salvation; how freewill fits in; God’s part in all troubles and the deep things they accomplish; the reasons for suffering and the mighty encouragements of Scripture.
The Hebrew word translated dissolving means ‘untangling’ or ‘unravelling’. And the word translated doubts is literally ‘knots’, meaning riddles, or difficult statements. So it’s about the untangling of difficulties, or puzzling statements. They may be in the Bible. They may be about yourself. Doubts about your salvation. Doubts about the faith itself. And you may be tempted to keep quiet about them and then to doubt them.
The question arises: is a doubt intellectual? Or is it Satanic? Well, for Christians, it will be both. Because Satan will take advantage of any honest, intellectual doubt. He is always involved in doubts – we have to realise and understand that.
Take the very first doubt in the Bible, in Genesis 3. ‘Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.’
And there comes into question straightaway the reliability of God’s Word. It was denied, but in a very subtle manner – in the form of a lie that came with a layer of truth. ‘Ye shall not surely die.’ No, she would not immediately, literally, physically die. She would die spiritually (and physically, in due course) on account of this. But immediately the devil weakens her grasp of these things. And he weakens our grasp of things, sometimes with a grain of truth. But it isn’t really truth.
The point here is that doubts start with Satan. He is involved. And so when we think we have an intellectual doubt about something, we shouldn’t proceed as though there is no spiritual aspect to this. This is part of the warfare. Yes, you must solve that doubt. You must honour your understanding of the Word of God. You must try to get to the bottom of it and ask for help. But at the same time, make no mistake that Satan is involved in this doubt, and he will use it to bring you away from God and bring you down in some respect. It’s not purely an intellectual manner.
So we must proceed with humility, and care, and caution, knowing that this is dangerous territory, and we honestly try to resolve the doubt. And there are certain rules for this, which the Bible gives.
Related Resources
Doubts About God’s Providence
Providence – God’s fore-provision for all His aims – creation and perpetuation of all, including salvation; how freewill fits in; God’s part in all troubles and the deep things they accomplish; the reasons for suffering and the mighty encouragements of Scripture.
Unfolding Providences
At Corinth great encouragements came repeatedly to Paul and his fellow missionaries, as they do to all faithful servants of God. First, we review his steadfastness, then see the provision of work, home, fellow-labourers, meeting-place, assurance, and (in Corinth) a special peace from violence.
Lessons on Providence
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