What’s Next - Week 3

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday: Genesis 12:1-9
Tuesday: Genesis 15:1-8
Wednesday: Genesis 17:1-8
Thursday: Genesis 17:9-18
Friday: Genesis 17:19-22
Saturday: John 21:1-6

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, there are days when I struggle with doubt and wonder what’s next. Remind me that even in my doubts, I am blessed. In Jesus name, Amen.

Reading

It’s tempting to think that many of us will reach a point in our lives where we’ll be forced to question all that we believe, and then after this struggle we’ll never doubt again. The truth, however, is that all of us test our beliefs every day. Every time you make a decision about how to respond to someone who is rude to you, your beliefs are front and center. Every time you feel that ache in your body, a reminder of the emergency surgery you’re still paying for two years later, you wonder if you’ll recover, not just physically but financially as well.

The more I’ve lived life and the more I’ve sought to know and understand God, the more I’m certain that doubts are essential to our maturity as believers.

If we want a stronger faith, then we might be wise to allow our doubts to stand as we work through them instead of trying to chop them out of the way.

More than 2,600 years ago, Habakkuk asked many of the same questions people all over the world are still asking today. And in His grace, God relieved some of Habakkuk’s anguish, even as He left other questions unanswered. But on the other side of his doubts, Habakkuk grew into a person with a richer faith, a faith that may not have developed as fully had he not struggled through his doubts.

Think about it. If you understood everything completely and fully, you wouldn’t need faith, would you? But without faith, it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Why? Because faith and trust must emerge from love, not from a business relationship, a transaction, or some situation in which we have no choice.

Excerpted from Hope in the Dark by Craig Groeschel