Doubt

Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job says he goes forward, backward, left and right, and cannot find God anywhere. He is describing absence rather than rebellion, and it is the friends with the tidy explanations whom the book finally says spoke wrongly.

Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

The poet says he has kept himself clean for nothing while the corrupt grow rich, and admits the thought was too painful to think through. The turn comes only in the sanctuary, and the earlier honesty is left standing in the psalm.

Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

Four unanswered questions in a row: whether the Lord has cast off for ever, whether mercy is gone, whether the promise has failed for good, whether God has forgotten to be gracious. The psalm asks them of God rather than about him.

O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

A prophet's accusation that God deceived him and overpowered him, leaving him mocked all day long. He resolves to stop speaking, and cannot, because the words burn in him. Complaint and compulsion sit in the same paragraph, unresolved.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

The book opens with the prophet asking how long he must cry without being heard, while violence goes unanswered and judgment never comes out straight. The argument with God is the structure of the book, not a phase it passes through.

Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

John the Baptist, in prison, sends disciples to ask whether Jesus is the one after all — and John is the man who had announced him. Jesus does not rebuke the question; he sends back a description of what is happening and leaves John to weigh it.

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

At the last scene of Matthew, the eleven meet the risen Jesus on a mountain, worship him, and, in the same sentence, some doubted. The gospel then gives its commission to that group, the doubters included, and says nothing more about it.

And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

A father describes his son's seizures since childhood and asks for help if Jesus can do anything. Told that belief matters, he answers that he believes and asks for help with his unbelief. The request is granted as it stands, without correction.

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Thomas, absent when the others saw Jesus, says he will not believe without touching the wounds. Eight days later he is offered exactly that. The demand is met before it is commented on; the blessing on those who have not seen comes afterwards.