How I’ve Changed My Perspective on Doubt and Answered Prayers

A friend of mine at church once brought to my attention that when he hears me pray for people, he finds it interesting that I always pray for what they are asking for, yet I always add a caveat at the end, should the prayer not be answered in the way we are hoping.

What I realized this looked like was: if someone is sick, my prayers would always be, “Lord, please heal X from this, BUT, if healing doesn’t come, give X the strength to carry through and glorify you even during this time.” 

My friend didn’t bring it up to me to start a whole discussion about faith; he just found it interesting. However, the comment really stuck with me. I then began to wonder if I really have faith that God will answer these prayers. Is my doubt the reason why I add these caveats? Am I just cynical, and that’s the reason why these prayers aren’t answered? 

During this time, my Young Adults small group was going through the book of Job. Let me tell you, there is nothing like doubting whether you have faith in answered prayers and reading about Job. Here was Job, a man who was honoring the Lord, yet he had everything taken away.

I’ve learned in the past to reconcile suffering/pain with God’s goodness and ultimate plan. However, at this point, I was wrestling with whether I am failing as a Christian because of my doubts about answered prayers.

While this was all going on, I celebrated a birthday, and one of the young adults at my church gave me a book titled I’ve Seen the End of You by W. Lee Warren. A Neurosurgeon’s Look at Faith, Doubt, and the Things We Think We Know. The book came with a note that said: “I remember you shared about how you struggled with doubts, hope this book helps, because it helped me.”

Now, she didn’t know any of the internal things I was struggling with at the moment; she had just heard comments from me about seeming to always carry doubts. Without either of us knowing any better, this book was what I desperately needed at this time. 

The Things We Think We Know 

I’m admittedly more of a casual reader, and typically try to read during my commutes to work, but I rarely will read while I’m just at home. However, this book captivated me because it felt as if someone had taken all the thoughts I was wrestling with privately and written them down. I started reading whenever I could find time.

Dr. Lee Warren unpacks his life as a neurosurgeon, seeing malignant brain cancers and saying, “I’ve seen the end of you” because of how terminal these cancers are. In this book, Dr. Warren outlines his struggle with praying to God to heal his patients, because he ultimately knows they are more than likely not going to survive. He found that he would pray, but there would always be that voice in the back of his mind that said, “You know how this goes.” 

In the book, Dr. Warren brings up the concept of how everyone naturally has things they have faith in, things they doubt, and things they think they know. However, unlike what most expect, it’s not doubt that he attributes as the biggest detriment to faith, but rather the things we think we know.

When we think we know something, we tend to no longer accept (or have faith) that there’s any other option or outcome possible. However, when we doubt, we leave a space that says “maybe there’s a chance,” and, hopefully, we are pushed to find answers to that doubt, which, in our Christian walk, can actually nudge us towards greater faith. 

I know people who seem to have unwavering faith that God will always come through the way they expect him to. Admittedly, perhaps this is an area where I can grow, and I often pray that God will truly help me in that. Having said that, the present me can’t act as if God heals every time or gets us out of every situation. This is not to imply that He’s wrong for not doing so, but it means I can’t always think I know how God will respond to prayers.  

Not My Will But Yours Be Done

The idea that maybe it’s the things we know that harm our faith more than anything else shifted how I viewed myself when it comes to doubts and the voices that say, “yeah, he can heal, but he might not…” I try to no longer see it as having less faith or doubt about whether God will answer the prayer. Rather, perhaps the “but maybe not” is just an honest acknowledgment that “I don’t know how God may respond to this situation, and that’s okay.” 

The important thing I’ve come to learn is that rather than being confident in knowing how God will answer our prayers, I’d much rather pray and be confident that God’s good and perfect will is going to be carried out, regardless of the outcome. Jesus demonstrates this when he’s in the garden and praying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” This is not a prayer of doubt or little faith; it’s one of surrender to the Father’s will. 

You may be someone who carries doubts and, like me, struggles with whether you truly have faith in what you pray for. I hope this reassures you that it’s okay to question and be skeptical; just don’t let your doubts become “Things that you know.”

God is satisfied with even a mustard seed size of faith, so hold on to that and trust in God’s promises instead. Hebrews 6:18 says, “It is impossible for God to lie”. So when God promises that his ways are good and that his plan for our lives is better, then let’s trust in that more than what we think we know. 

This book helped me stop worrying about how much faith I really have in God and showed me that my doubts are not only what kept me desiring more of him, but what helped me trust in his will more than the answers to my prayers (although, it would be nice if you answered some of them, God…thanks!).