Seek the Lord through Scripture to Erase Doubt

It was the summer of 1851 and a search party had been looking long and hard for English missionary Allen Gardiner. Finally, the searchers found the lifeless body of the missionary hidden in the boat in which he had taken shelter during his last days. Shipwrecked on Tierra del Fuego, his and his companions’ provisions ran out; death came slowly, but inevitably, to each of them.

We know some of the thoughts of Allen Gardiner during those days from letters he had left for his family and from entries in his personal journal found beside his body. He was, at one stage, desperate for water; his pangs of thirst, he wrote, were “almost intolerable.” Far from home and loved ones, he died alone, isolated, weakened, physically broken. Hardly what we might think of as the end of a “victorious Christian life.” Despite the wretched conditions in which he died, Gardiner experienced a new and deeper sense of the goodness of God. He wrote out passages from his Bible. One of them was Psalm 34:10: “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.”

In his weakness he managed to pen one final feebly written journal entry. It was this: “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.” There was something more here than just the heart-rending death of a missionary in a distant land long ago. During the days of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, he knew what it was like to be lonely, giving outsiders the impression that God had forgotten Him. He fervently prayed that His Father would protect Him in the face of His enemies, trusting God’s unfailing love. He knew the deliverance and salvation of God from enemies and death. How often He must have lain down to sleep at night, thinking, “Father, you have been good to me.”

And you, dear reader, despite life’s hardships, have you experienced a new and deeper sense of the goodness of God, or do dreadful questions of doubt arise in your soul? Are you asking, has God forgotten me? Why do I have fear and sorrow in my heart frequently? Why does my enemy triumph over me?

So how do you trust God and experience His goodness in adverse circumstances? Answer: by the cleansing process of seeking the Lord and His influence in Scripture. His Word renews our minds and produces that transformation of our lives which leads to a discovery of the good, perfect and welcome will of God (Romans 12:1,2). It is no more complicated than prayerfully picking up your Bible and studying it in a disciplined, thoughtful and prayerful manner. We are, as Jesus prayed, “sanctified” through the truth that is God’s Word (John 17:16). You see, dear reader, this is as important to our spiritual well-being as the cleansing of a wound is to its healing.

The self-sufficient person, though possibly strong like the lion in worldly terms, will one day lack and suffer hunger, “…but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” Seek Him and trust in His goodness, even in the most troublesome times. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16). Perhaps this evening when you lie down to rest, your soul will exclaim, “Father, you have been good to me.” Amen!