“I think, therefore I am.”
This saying by Rene Descartes is foundational to much Western philosophy. His point, in the face of radical doubt, was that the very existence of doubt meant that he himself must actually exist. Descartes then reasoned from this foundation. His original intention was to argue for the existence of God, but he inadvertently built upon a shaky foundation which has caused many to sink into despondency.
You see, anytime we turn inward to find answers to our insecurities and doubts we are on shaky ground. Descartes made this statement in 1637. Obadiah Sedgwick, a contemporary, wrote a helpful little book called The Doubting Believer four years later. I don’t believe Sedgwick had Descartes in mind when he wrote what he did. However, the way in which Descartes reasoned captured the zeitgeist of the philosophy of his day. Sedgwick was a pastor picking up the pieces of such man-centered philosophy. Ideas have consequences. And “the life of sense” was creating many doubting believers. Sedgwick explains the life of sense, it is:
…to place the disposition of God, and the issues of our condition, in our feelings and sensible apprehensions so as to believe that God is my God because I find him so; that He is gracious because I find a sensible answer of my prayers; that He accepts my services because I find that life of affections; so, on the contrary, that He is not my God because I do not find those sensible reports of His favor. I do not find that quickness and former smartness of affections; I do find immediate answers to all my desires and requests; that I am not in the estate of grace because I do not feel the vigors and secret increasings of grace; that I do not believe because I do not rejoice or see my sins blotted out, etc; which kind of life must verily be exposed unto infinite and continual doubtings. (18-19)
What Sedwick is saying is that anytime we place our security in our outward frames and performances we are on shaking grounds and open to continual doubting. Your thinking does not prove that you exist. The fact that God said you exist proves your existence. I understand that in philosophy, logic, and such discussion that statement doesn’t win the day. But it’s certainly the proclamation of the Bible. And Sedgwick is correct that as soon as we pursue security and an end to our doubtings in evidence other than the work of Christ we are going to find ourselves in a world of trouble.
Sedgwick goes on to give three reasons why this is so:
- The soul here has no constant bottom to settle upon.
- The soul hereby advantages Satan in his suggestions, for the life of sense is open to all winds.
- It is a life which much dishonors God and, therefore, is exposed to many fears and unsetteldness.
In that last point what Sedgwick means is that it is foolishness to “measure the truths of God by our sense”. Christ was not dead, buried, and resurrected because Thomas could feel the wounds in his side. Thomas could feel the wounds in his side because Christ was dead, buried, and resurrected. To look for evidence on that first grounds is where much doubting comes from.
So what do you do? How do you cure this form of doubting? Sedgwick gives three truths to focus upon.
- Consider that feelings are not a fit judge of our condition.
- Remember that faith and feelings are often set at contrary. Sense sustains itself by something within us, and faith sustains itself by something outside us.
- Feeling is not the ground of believing but a fruit of faith. The Word of God is the foundation of our faith, not the way that we feel.
Here is why this is helpful. Take someone like William Cowper. Cowper believed the truths of the gospel but he did not believe they applied to him. He believed that those who trusted in Christ where saved. He believed that he himself and faith in Christ, yet he felt that he was uniquely damned. Poor Cowper, when doubt assailed him, trusted in his senses instead of God’s Word. Because of this error he spent many days in despair and doubting.
We must look outside ourselves for our comfort and security. We must believe that the Bible is true whether we at that moment believe it to be true or not. We must believe that our feelings of failure and doubt and such do not win the day. What matters is Christ. This is why the Puritans would say that a weak faith can lay hold of a strong Christ. The most important aspect of our faith isn’t the level of our faith but that we are taking hold of Christ. When doubts come upon you don’t take your gaze of Christ and His sufficiency. Looking to your snakebite won’t set you free. You’ve got to look at the one who hung upon the tree.
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