Chapter 12
Chapter 12
A WORD TO THE WAVERING ONES
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord"—James 1:6-7.
It would be dijfficult to find anything that produces more discomfort in the Christian life than wavering faith. The illustration given us by James describes it exactly— '*a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed."
It is impossible for a traveler to reach his destination by advancing one day and retracing his steps the next.
It is equally impossible for the wavering soul to reach any place of settled peace.
In our last chapter we considered the shakings of God. We may think that our waverings are related to His shakings. But God's shakings are caused by His love and are for our blessing. They always lead to rest and peace. Our waverings are
caused by our lack of faith and always lead to discomfort and turmoil.
A wavering Christian is a Christian who trusts in the love of God one day and doubts it the next. He mounts to the hilltop of joy, only to descend into the valley of despair. He is driven to and fro by every wind of doctrine and is always striving and never attaining. He is a prey to each changing influence caused by his state of health or by his circumstances or even by the weather.
Even the most ignorant child of God should know that this sort of experience is all wrong. To waver in one's faith is most dishonoring to the Lord.
It slanders the truth and faithfulness of His nature.
Many Christians' eyes are so blinded that they actually think this tendency to waver is a tribute to the humility of their spirits. They exalt every fresh attack of doubt into a secret and most pious virtue.
A wavering Christian will say complacently, **Oh, but I know that I am so unworthy.
I am sure it is right for me to doubt.' They will imply by their tone of superiority that if you were truly humble, you would doubt also.
I knew one devoted Christian whose religious life was one long torment of doubt. He said to me once in solemn earnestness, after I had been urging him to have more faith, **My dear friend, if once I should be so presumtuous as to feel sure that God loved me, I should be certain I was on the direct road to hell." He thought that such an
assurance could only arise from a feeling that he was good enough to be worthy of God's love.
For us to think that we are good enough to be worthy of God's love would be presumption indeed. But our assurance does not come from our own goodness, but from the goodness of God. We never can be and never should be satisfied with our own goodness. There cannot possibly be any question, however, to one who believes the Bible, concerning the all-sufficiency of the goodness of God.
To see the absurdity of the doubt of this dear Christian, we can consider how it would affect any of our human relationships. Suppose a wife or husband had a wavering confidence in the other, one day trusting, and the next day doubting. Would this be a sign of true humility on the doubter's part? Would it be cherished as a virtue? Suppose the children waver in their confidence toward their earthly parents as Christians often do with their heavenly Parent. What words would be severe enough to describe such unacceptable conduct?
In earthly relationships such wavering might occur because someone was unworthy of confidence. In this case it could be excused. But in the case of God, there could not possibly be any such excuse. The wavering faith of some of His children lead unbelievers to conclude that God cannot be worthy of much confidence.
We would not want to be the cause of any such
doubt of the goodness of God. Our wavering faith gives just such an impression however.
It is nothing less than disloyalty to a trustworthy God, and it should be mourned over as a grievous sin.
Receiving And Keeping Blessings Our wavering comes from a subtle and often unconscious form of pride. True humility accepts the love that is bestowed upon it.
It receives the gifts of that love with a meek and happy thankfulness. Pride shrinks from accepting gifts and kindness.
It is afraid to believe in the pure motives and goodness of the one who bestows them.
If we were truly humble, we would accept God's love with thankful meekness. We would still acknowledge our own unworthiness, but we would only think of it as enhancing His grace and goodness in choosing us as the recipients of such blessings.
A wavering faith is not only disloyal to God. It is also a source of untold misery to ourselves as well.
It cannot advance our spiritual interests, but it always hinders and upsets them. The apostle Paul tells us that we are made partakers of Christ if we
*'hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14).
To be steadfast is the opposite of wavering. To expect steadfastness to come as the result of wavering is foolishness.
It is like expecting to reach the top of a mountain by alternating short climbs up with long and disastrous slides down.
Yet, many people expect this very thing. They make a beginning of confidence. While the freshness of it lasts, they are full of joy and triumph.
Then trials and temptations come. Doubts begin to intrude. Instead of treating these doubts as enemies to be resisted and driven away, they receive them as friends and give them entertainment.
Sooner or later they begin to waver in their faith.
All settled peace is gone. When skies are bright and all goes well with them, their faith flourishes.
But when skies are dark and things go wrong, doubts triumph, and they waver again.
Mountain Climbing I once had a conversation with a clergyman on the possibility of a spiritual life of constant peace and rest. He told me frankly that he did not believe it was possible. He thought that most Christian experience was like his own.
When I want to write my sermons, he said, **I get up on the mountaintop by prayer and by climbing.
I put my foot first on one promise and then on another. By hard climbing and much praying,
I reach the summit and can begin my sermon.
All goes fine for a little while. Then suddenly an interruption comes, some trouble with my children or some domestic upset in the house or some quarrel with a neighbor, and down I tumble from the mountaintop.
I can only get back again by another exhausting climb.
'^Sometimes," he said, ''I stay on the summit for
two or three days, and once in a great while, even for two or three weeks. But as to there being any possibility of being seated in heavenly places in Christ and abiding there continually, I cannot believe it."
This describes the experience of many of God's children who are hungering and thirsting for the peace and rest that Christ has promised them.
They always seem unable to obtain it for more than a few moments at a time. They may get a faint glimmer of faith and the peace that seems to be within reach. Then all the old doubts spring up again with tenfold power.
*'Look at your heart," they say. **See how cold it is, how indijfferent. How can you for a moment believe that God can love such a poor, unworthy creature as you?"
It all sounds so reasonable that they are plunged into darkness again.
The trouble arises from a lack of faith.
It seems repetitous to say it, but the stability in our spiritual life is always directly related to our faith.
This is a spiritual law that can neither be neglected nor evaded.
It is not an arbitrary law.
We cannot hope that it would be repealed in our special case.
It is inherent in the very nature of things.
It is, quite simply, unalterable.
Equally unalterable is its converse. If it is to be done to us according to our faith, so will it also be done to us according to our doubt.
The root of our wavering experience is not our sins.
It is simply and only our doubts. Doubts cre-
ate an impassable gulf between our soul and the Lord, just as they do between us and our earthly friends. No amount of fervor or earnestness can bridge this gulf in either case.
James said, concerning the man who wavers, *Tet not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord" (James 1:7). This is not because
God is angry and sends His displeasure on the man who doubts. It is simply impossible for doubt and confidence to exist together, whether in earthly relationships or heavenly.
**And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief"
(Hebrews 3:18-19).
It was not that God would not allow them to enter in as a punishment for their unbelief. They simply could not.
It was an impossibility.
Faith is the only door into the Kingdom of God, and there is no other. If we will not go in by that door, we cannot get in at all.
There is no other way.
God's salvation is not a purchase to be made or wages to be earned.
It is not a summit to be climbed or a task to be accomplished. It is simply a gift to be accepted.
It can only be accepted by faith.
Faith is a necessary element in the acceptance of any gift, whether earthly or heavenly. My friends may put their gifts upon my table or even place them in my lap.
But unless I believe in their
friendliness enough to accept these gifts, they can never become mine.
Unscriptural Additions Jesus simply announced the nature of things when He declared, ''According to your faith be it unto you" (Matthew 9:29). The sooner we realize this, the better our faith lives will be.
All our wavering comes from the fact that we do not believe in this law. We acknowledge that it is in the Bible, but we think it cannot really mean what it says. We feel that there must be some additions made to it.
For example, we suppose that ''according to our fervency it shall be unto us," or "according to our begging," or "according to our worthiness." Furthermore, we are inclined to think that these additions of ours are, if anything, the most important part of the whole matter. Consequently, our attention is mostly directed to getting these matters settled. We watch our own feelings and search into our own worthiness or unworthiness very diligently. We overlook the fundamental principle of faith, without which nothing can ever be done.
Our feelings are the most variable things in the universe. Our sense of worthiness or unworthiness changes with our changing moods. Therefore, our faith cannot help but waver. We make the faithfulness of God and the truth of His Word depend upon the state of our feelings.
If any of our friends would doubt us like this,
we would be wounded and indignant beyond measure. No feeling of unworthiness on their part could excuse them in our eyes for such a wavering of their confidence in us. We would far rather our friends even sin against us than doubt us.
No form of sinfulness ever hindered the Lord Jesus from doing His mighty works on the earth.
The only thing that hindered Him was unbelief.
Among His own neighbors and friends, where naturally He would have liked to perform some of His miracles, we are told that, **He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58).
It was not that He would not, but simply that He could not. And He cannot in our case, anymore than in theirs.
Some may still think that the man whose faith wavers can receive something from the Lord if only he is fervent and earnest enough. That means that you do not believe that God understands the laws of His Kingdom as well as you do. You believe it is safer to follow your own ideas rather than His Word.
You must know that your doubts have brought you nothing but darkness and misery in the past.
Recall the times of halting, stumbling, and discomfort in your religious life. Ask yourself honestly whether the cause of it all has been your wavering faith.
How To Stop Wavering If you believe one day that God loves you and is
favorable to you, and the next day you doubt His love and fear He is angry with you, you will waver in your experience from joy to misery. Only a steadfast faith in His love and care could give you an unwavering experience.
The question for all whose faith wavers is how to put an end to their wavering forever. The answer is to give it up. Your wavering is caused by your doubting and nothing else. Give up your doubting, and your wavering will stop. Keep on with your doubting, and your wavering will continue. The whole matter is as simple as that. The choice is in your own hands.
You may think this is an extreme statement.
Maybe you never realized that you could give up doubting. But I assure you that you can. You can simply refuse to doubt. You can shut the door against every suggestion of doubt that comes. By faith you can declare exactly the opposite.
Your doubt says, '*God does not forgive my sins." Your faith must say, **He does forgive me;
He says He does, and I choose to believe Him.
I am His forgiven child." You must assert this steadfastly until all your doubts vanish.
You have no right to say that you are of such a doubting nature that you cannot help doubting.
That would be like saying that you are of such a thieving nature that you cannot help stealing. One is as easily controlled as the other. You must give up your doubt just as you would give up your theft. You must treat the temptation to doubt
exactly as a drunkard must treat the temptation to drink. You must take a pledge against it.
The process that is the most effective is to lay our doubts, just as our other sins, upon God's altar and make a total surrender of them. We must give up all doubt and consecrate our power of believing to Him. Then we can trust Him to keep us trusting.
Our faith in His Word should be as important as our obedience to His will. We must be as loyal to our heavenly Friend as we are to our earthly friends.
Finally, we must refuse any question or doubt concerning His love or His faithfulness.
There can be no wavering in our absolute faith in His Word.
Of course, temptations to waver will come.
It sometimes looks impossible that the Lord can love such disagreeable, unworthy beings as we feel that we are. We must turn a deaf ear to these insinuations against the love of God just as we would to insinuations against the love of our dearest friend.
The fight to do this may sometimes be very severe, and may even at times seem almost unendurable.
But our shout of faith declares, 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" Qob 13:15). Our steadfast trust in Him guarantees us a glorious victory.
When we look at our many shortcomings, we may think that a truly humble soul should waver in faith.
It may seem to be a righteous thing to question whether the salvation of the Lord Jesus
can be meant for us. But ifwe understand what the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ is, we will recognize that these questions are only a temptation to sin. Lift up the shield of faith persistently against them. ''Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Ephesians 6:16).
Perfect Confidence In God The Spirit of God could never suggest a doubt of the love of God.
All doubts are from an evil source, and they must always be treated as the suggestions of an enemy.
We cannot prevent the suggestions of doubt making themselves heard in our hearts, anymore than we can prevent our ears from hearing the curses of wicked men in the streets. But just as we can refuse to agree with the curses of these men, we can refuse to pay attention to these suggestions of doubt. In the case of the oaths, however, we know without any question that it would be wicked to join in with them. In the case of the doubts, we have a lurking feeling that doubts may have something pious in them and ought to be encouraged.
I believe one is as displeasing to God as the other.
The most practical way of giving up doubt is to meet each doubt with a flat denial. Then counter it with an emphatic assertion of faith. For instance, suppose tht doubt arises as to whether God can love anyone so sinful and unfaithful as you feel
yourself to be. Immediately affirm in your own heart, and if possible aloud to someone, that God does love you. He says He does, and His Word is worth a million times more trust than any of your feelings.
It does not matter how well founded those feelings may seem to you. If you cannot find anyone to say this to, then write it in a letter. Or say it aloud to yourself and to God. Be very definite about it.
If you had a beginning of confidence, if you have ever laid hold of any promise or declaration of the Lord, then hold on steadfastly to that promise or declaration without wavering. There can be no middle ground.
If it was true once, it is true still, for God is unchangeable.
The only thing that can deprive you of God's best is your unbelief. While you believe, you have it. *'What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24).
Let nothing shake your faith.
If sin overtakes you, do not let it make you doubt. Immediately upon the discovery of any sin, take 1 John 1 :9 and act on it.
'*If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Then believe that God does forgive you, as He promised, and does again cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
No sin, however grievous, can separate us from God for one moment after it has been treated in this way. To allow sin to cause your faith to waver
is only to add a new sin to the one already committed. Return at once and let your faith hold steadfastly to His Word.
Believe it, not because you feel it or see it, but because He says it. Believe it, even when it seems to you that you are believing a lie.
Believe it actively and steadfastly, through dark and through light, through ups and downs, through times of comfort and times of despair.
If you do, your wavering experience will end.
''Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (2 Corinthians
15:58). To be unmoveable in one's faith is the opposite of wavering.
In the Forty-sixth Psalm we can see what it means. The earth may be removed, and the mountains may be carried into the midst of the sea, and our whole universe may seem to be in ruins. But while we trust in the Lord, we shall not be moved.
The man who wavers in his faith is upset by the smallest troubles. The man who is steadfast in his faith can look on calmly at the ruin of all his universe.
To be immoveable in one's Christian life is a blessing to be strongly desired.
It may be ours, if we will only hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.