Is God Real? How Can I Know When I Still Have Doubts?

Is God real? Maybe you grew up going to church, but somewhere along the way you started to wonder if any of it is true. Or maybe you have never believed, and you're not sure anyone can really know there is a God.

Maybe you are a Christian, but part of you quietly asks, "God, are You even real?"

If that is you, hear this first. You can be honest about your doubts, and you are not alone in having them. The Bible never calls us to blind faith. It calls us to trust a God we have good reasons to believe in.

I preached a message from Mark 9 called "When You Battle Unbelief," about a father who believed and doubted at the same time. You can watch it here.

Admitting your doubts is a doorway to a deeper faith.

I grew up in church and went to Christian schools, and I didn't face any major doubts until college. For the first time, I had teachers who were not Christians, and I heard them say that if you believed God created everything, you weren't using logic. I wrestled with doubt in ways I never had before.

By the grace of God, I came through that season with a stronger faith. But I will be honest with you. Being a pastor does not mean I never battle doubt. Every believer does.

Even Thomas, one of Jesus' closest friends, would not believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw the nail marks in His hands. Jesus did not reject him. He invited Thomas to see for himself, and then He said something for you and me: "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29, NIV).

So don't hide your doubts. Doubt is most dangerous when it is never confessed but is repressed.

Your sense of right and wrong points to God.

C.S. Lewis, the author of Mere Christianity, was an atheist for years before he became a Christian. His argument against God was that the world seemed so cruel and unjust.

But then he asked himself where he got the idea of just and unjust in the first place. You can't call a line crooked unless you know what a straight line looks like.

Think about it like this. When you call something really wrong, you are measuring it against a standard of right. A real moral standard points to a moral lawgiver: God. Lewis realized he was using an idea that comes from God to argue against God. He was cutting off the branch he was sitting on.

So here is the choice. Either God made you in His image, which means you have real worth and there is a real right and wrong. Or we are a cosmic accident, life is meaningless, and nothing matters in the end, not even cruelty or injustice. You cannot use the morality that comes from God to disprove God.

Maybe the pain in this world is the very thing that makes you doubt God. That is an honest question too, so here is how a good and loving God can allow suffering.

Creation points to a Creator.

Some people think you have to choose between science and God. You don't. Science and faith don't contradict each other. They complement each other. Science is great for studying how the physical world works, but it can't tell you what love is or what is right and wrong.

Decades ago, a lot of scientists believed that space and everything in it had always existed. But the Bible's very first verse says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1, NIV). Science now points to a beginning, and even the best scientists can't say what started it. I like to put it this way: there was a big bang because there was a Big Banger.

Have you ever looked at a house and thought, "Wow, some trees exploded, and over time the pieces came together into a house"? Of course not! A house points to a builder. In the same way, the complexity of DNA, the human eye, and even your own hand point to a creative mind behind them.

Nobody dies for something they know is a lie.

God did not just leave clues in creation. He made Himself known most clearly by stepping into history as Jesus. Jesus claimed to be God. Then He died on the cross, and three days later He rose from the dead.

Here is what is so incredible. Jesus' own family once thought He had lost His mind: "they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind'" (Mark 3:21, NIV). In fact, "even his own brothers did not believe in him" (John 7:5, NIV).

One of those brothers was James, and he did not follow Jesus until after the resurrection. Paul writes that the risen Jesus "appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles" (1 Corinthians 15:6-7, NIV).

Notice that most of those eyewitnesses were still alive when Paul wrote. They were not people who heard about Jesus hundreds of years later.

James went on to lead the church in Jerusalem and write the book of James, and he was willing to die for his faith in Jesus. I love my brother, but I would never die saying he was God if I knew it was a lie!

The apostles were the same. They said they saw the risen Jesus with their own eyes, and they were willing to suffer and even die rather than take it back. Some people will die for a lie they have been fooled into believing. But nobody dies for something they know is a lie.

I don't think they died for a lie. I think they really saw Jesus alive. That is why faith in Jesus is not blind faith. It is a reasonable faith. If you want to take a closer look at Him, start with who Jesus really is and why He matters.

You only need a mustard seed of faith to start.

Good reasons can point you to God, but knowing about God is not the same as knowing Him. I know a lot about Steph Curry, but if I walked up to him on the street, he would say, "Who are you?" God wants you to know Him personally, not just know about Him.

I have never seen God with my own eyes. I have never seen the wind either, but I believe it's real because I see it moving and changing everything around it. I believe in God because I have seen Him change me, and I have seen Him change others.

Maybe you're thinking, "I'm not sure I can believe yet. I still have questions." You don't have to have it all figured out. Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mountain.

In Mark 9, a father brought his son to Jesus for healing. When Jesus said that everything is possible for one who believes, the father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24, NIV). He had belief and unbelief at the same moment, and Jesus still healed his son. God would rather you battle unbelief than live in unbelief.

Today, you can bring your doubts to God instead of hiding them. If you aren't sure where to start, you could pray something like this:

God, I don't have it all figured out. I'm not even sure You exist. But part of me wants to believe in You, so I'm coming to You with that. I believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. Amen.

God is not afraid of your questions. I have failed God a lot in my life, but in all my years of following Jesus, He has never failed me.

Daily Practice: Write down the biggest question you have about God, and bring it to Him in prayer. Then read 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, where Paul lists the people who saw Jesus alive. Don't keep your questions to yourself, either. Talk with a Christian you trust, or send us your questions.