The Wonder of Doubt & Desire

This is week five in our series on what Scripture teaches us about the value of wonder in our lives and ministries.
  
Today’s Scripture passage is Luke 8:25 (KJV)

And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

As we have been looking at examples of wonder in the Bible, we have seen a lot about wondering in awe at the works of God and our awe and wonder in remembering those works, but as we see in this verse sometimes we wonder out of perplexity and confusion instead of awe.

When we first started talking about wonder, we looked at the following definition:

Wonder - a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

There is another definition for wonder though. Sometimes wonder means:

Wonder - feel doubt.

The storm they were experiencing led them to wonder. They wondered what was going to happen to them. They wondered why Jesus was sleeping. They doubted their safety. Jesus recognized this as He asked them where their faith was. Like the disciples, we have times where our wonder comes from a place of doubting too. We wonder why He is doing what He is doing, or why He is allowing something, or why He won’t do something. Like the disciples we find ourselves in the middle of a storm, scared, confused, and wondering in doubt.

The storm got pretty bad before the disciples went to Jesus with their doubts and concerns. We often do the same thing. We’re so focused on the storm and maybe wondering why God isn’t already doing something about it. We try to handle it on our own or conceal our doubts, but like the disciples finally did we need to take our doubts and concerns to Him, and let Him help us through it.

There’s one more important definition for wonder:

Wonder - Desire or be curious to know something

Sometimes the doubting type of wonder leads to amazed wonder which leads to this curious type of wonder. The disciples took their doubts and concerns to Jesus and then saw Him do something amazing. He spoke a word and calmed the wind and the waves. There was definitely surprise from something unexpected and inexplicable, but there was also curiosity over something. They were curious how He calmed the storm. This was not normal human behavior, so they wondered who He was and how it was possible. Sometimes we see God working and we wonder in amazement and it also drives us to wonder more about Him. This can lead to a deeper faith and a deeper relationship with Him which is always a good thing.

So if you are finding yourself in the middle of a storm or a season of storms, it’s okay to have doubts and concerns, but take them to God. Let Him help you through it until He brings you to the point that you can look at what He did in amazement and longingly desire to know Him more.