from D.L. Moody
Doubting and Inquiring (Part 1)
We do not ask men and women to believe in the Bible without inquiry. It is not natural to man to accept the things of God without question. If you are to be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is within you, you must first be an inquirer yourself. But do not be a dishonest doubter, with your heart and mind proof against evidence. Do not be a doubter because you think it is "intellectual"; do not ventilate your doubts. "Give us your convictions," said a German writer; "we have enough doubts of our own." Be like Thomas, who did not accept Jesus' offer to feel the nailprints in his hand and side; his heart was open to conviction. "Faith," says John McNeill, "is not to be obtained at your finger-ends."
If you are filled with the Word of God, there will not be any doubts. A lady said to me once, "Do you not have any doubts?" No, I have not time—there is too much work to be done. Some people live on doubt. It is their stock in trade. I believe the reason there are so many Christians who are without the full evidence of the relationship, with whom you only see the Christian graces cropping out every now and then, is that the Bible is not taken for doctrine, reproof, and instruction.
Now the request comes: "I wish you would prove to me that the Bible is true." The Book will prove itself if you will let it; there is living power in it. "For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." It does not need defence so much as it needs studying. It can defend itself. It is not a sickly child that needs nursing. A Christian man was once talking to a sceptic who said he did not believe the Bible. The man read certain passages, but the sceptic said again, "I do not believe a word of it." The man kept on reading until finally the sceptic was convicted; and the other added: "When I have proved a good sword, I keep using it." That is what we want to-day. It is not our work to make men believe: that is the work of the Holy Spirit.
A man once sat down to read the Bible an hour each evening with his wife. In a few evenings, he stopped in the midst of his reading, and said: "Wife, if this Book is true, we are wrong." He read on, and before long, stopped again and said: "Wife, if this Book is true, we are lost." Riveted to the Book and deeply anxious, he still read on, and soon exclaimed: "Wife, if this Book is true, we may be saved." It was not many days before they were both converted. This is the one great end of the Book, to tell man of God's great salvation. Think of a book that can lift up our drooping spirits, and recreate us in God's image!It is an awful responsibility to have such a book and to neglect its warnings, to reject its teachings. It is either the savour of death unto death, or of life unto life. What if God should withdraw it, and say: "I will not trouble you with it any more!"
You ask what you are going to do when you come to a thing you cannot understand. I thank God there is a height in that Book I do not know anything about, a depth I have never been able to fathom, and it makes the Book all the more fascinating. If I could take that Book up and read it as I can any other book, and understand it at one reading, I should have lost faith in it years ago. It is one of the strongest proofs that that Book must have come from God, that the acutest men who have dug for fifty years have laid down their pens and said, "There is a depth we know nothing of." "No Scripture," said Spurgeon, "is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God's garden bloom, not only double, but sevenfold: they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance."
God has sent the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, and He is ready to open the eyes of our understanding. We know how one's understanding may be opened in ordinary matters. The story is told of a boy whose parents took him to Florida to spend the winter. He returned to his city home, disgusted with the country he had been in. It was dull, and stupid, and uninteresting, he said. During the next few months, however, he was under the charge of a tutor, who was an enthusiast in botany, and he kindled the boy's interest in his favourite study. The boy learned about orchids and their strange life. His tutor took him to a conservatory that he might see some of them growing. "You should see them in Florida," the tutor said, "they are much better there; but these will give you an idea." The boy looked at him in amazement, "I have been in Florida," he said, "but I never noticed any of them." "Perhaps you did not look for them," replied his tutor; "but they will not escape you now." The Holy Spirit is willing to teach us. It may be by some sermon or book which will lift a Bible truth out of its hiding-place, and give it an application to our life it never had before.
A man came to me with a difficult passage some time ago, and said, "Moody, what do you do with that?" "I do not do anything with it." "How do you understand it?" "I do not understand it." "How do you explain it?" "I do not explain it." "What do you do with it?" "I do not do anything." "You do not believe it, do you?" "Oh, yes, I believe it." There are lots of things I do not understand, but I believe them. I do not know anything about higher mathematics, but I believe in them. I do not understand astronomy, but I believe in astronomy. Can you tell me why the same kind of food turns into flesh, fish, hair, feathers, hoofs, finger-nails —according as it is eaten by one animal or another? A man told me he could not believe a thing he had never seen. I said: "Man, did you ever see your brain?"
Dr. Talmage tells the story that one day while he was bothering his theological professor with questions about the mysteries of the Bible, the latter turned on him, and said: "Mr. Talmage, you will have to let God know some things you do not."
A man once said to an infidel: "The mysteries of the Bible do not bother me. I read the Bible as I eat fish. When I am eating fish, and come across a bone, I do not try to swallow it, I lay it aside. And when I am reading the Bible, and come across something I cannot understand, I say, 'There is a bone,' and I pass it by. But I do not throw the fish away because of the bones in it; and I do not throw my Bible away because of a few passages I cannot explain."
Pascal said: "Human knowledge must be understood in order to be loved; but Divine knowledge must be loved to be understood." That marks the point of failure of most critics of the Bible. They do not make their brain the servant of their heart.
Did you ever notice that the things that men cavil most about are the very things to which Christ has set his seal? Men say: "You do not believe in the story of Noah and the flood, do you?" Well, if I give that up, I must give up the Gospel, I must give up the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christ believed in the story of Noah, and connected that with his return to earth. "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Men say, "You do not believe in the story of Lot and Sodom, do you?" Just as much as I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ. "As it was in the days of Lot... even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." Men say, "You do not believe in the story of Lot's wife, do you?" Christ believed it. "Remember Lot's wife." "You do not believe the story of Israel looking to a brass serpent for deliverance, do you?" Christ believed it, and connected it with his own cross. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Men say, "You do not believe the children of Israel were fed with manna in the desert, do you?" "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert;.... Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven." Men say, "You do not believe they drank water that came out of a rock?" Christ believed it and taught it. Men say, "You do not believe in the story of Elijah being fed by the widow, do you?" Certainly. Christ said there were many widows in the days of Elijah; but Elijah was fed by only one widow. Christ referred to it Himself, He set his seal to it. The Son of God believed it, and "shall the servant be above his master?"
(Check back for Part 2 )
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