"Dealing With Doubt"

"Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves." (Psalms 44:10) If you know anything about the children of Israel, then you should know the Lord uses their lives to show us a little bit about ourselves. Sometimes even the simple little stories of the way they were led into captivity and then delivered, as crazy as that might sound, are almost a mirror image of the ways that God will allow us to see what doubt will do to us. Doubt is the opposition to faith, in that doubt opposes what faith stands for, not just hindering faith, but causing us to lose all hope and security in God. You might think that what I said sounds a little strong, but it does not happen over night; once we start doubting anything that God has said, we have set ourselves up to doubt Him for anything that He can do. Try to image what this verse might be talking about; a good illustration is from Joshua 7, which deals with Achan's sin; his sin was that of taking of something from the enemy that was accursed, thereby breaking faith with God; breaking faith means that he doubted what God said about not taking anything of the enemy, but to destroy everything. What's the big deal with taking a little treasure for myself? It's not as if I stopped serving God, but just wanted to enjoy a little pleasure while serving Him. Unlike the power that comes through obedience, there is defeat that comes through disobedience; after all, what kind of faith do you have in God if you think that you can hide your sin from Him?
"Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)