Unreasonable Doubt

"Reasonable Doubt" is an album released by Jay-Z in 1996. I was my daughter's age when it dropped. Before any of you start googling the songs and start condemning me for referencing it in a "Christian" space.. Chill. lol

As a Hip Hop aficionado, this album is a staple in the genre, its community, and a musical classic in its own right. All that aside, the album made me think of something.

"Reasonable Doubt" by definition (in a federal court's use of the term) is when there is not enough presented evidence to find someone guilty. This is important in a court of law, because everyone is "innocent until proven guilty." And no one should be found guilt based on a guess, assumption, or speculation.

It's like having blind faith, but let's dig deeper. "Not enough evidence" to believe otherwise.

Let me list a few:

♥ Parents: We leave our children unattended with folks we don't even know daily. (I'm not judging at all. It's literally how they attend school.) But we do this year after year, with stranger after stranger with the faith we will pick them up in the same condition we dropped them off.

♥ Travelers: We ride in planes, trains, and all sorts of public transportation to get across town or internationally. 1/10 Americans takes this method of transit weekly. Do we know the drivers, conductors, or pilots on a personal level? Not often. Honestly, I still giggle at myself when flying in a plane. (I get what aerodynamic means, but let's be real: over 400 tons of metal and other materials defying gravity is still crazy to me).

♥ Workers: Those of us with any kind of employment don't often get pre-paid for our work. But we show up, and get the job done daily (or as scheduled), without so much of a thought about if our check will actually deposit. Heck, most of us don't even verify if our hours add up. We just check out amount, and if it "looks right," we're good.

We go about so much of our daily lives trusting people we don't know and using technology we don't fully-understand.

We do so without much thought about if we can really "trust" whether we should or not.

Let's be honest, a lot of what we do - down to driving on the highway among complete strangers - are things that could really be life or death for us in the hands of others.

And we do it. EVERYDAY.

But when it comes to God, we have so many questions.

Sooo many hesitations.

(Don't get me wrong... He's here for all our inquiries and eagerly looks forward to showing us some of the answers to our heart's desires.)

Reasonable Doubt would be applicable, if it wasn't. :)

Let's remember, "Reasonable Doubt" is basically believing in something (or someone) until there is enough evidence to believe a not-so-great truth.

We experience a lot of life. Some of it's great, and some of it... not so much.

But if we really sat and thought about it, if we put the energy into seeing our blessings as much as we do complaining about our inconveniences, we would see so much to be thankful for.

So much that we don't fully understand, but get to experience.

From God.

And, I know the logical counterpoint is this:

"If God is so great, then why do so many bad things happen?"

It's a fair question, but it's also misappropriated.

This is also a question most Christians battle with.

I want to take a second and pause/clarify: This post isn't so much for those who are new to Christ or restarting your journey with God. I think this message is pivotal to those of us who have been walking with God for a while, and have often experienced how painful it is to be a Believer in a fallen world.

This is not to pass judgement on those who struggle with our faith. Because, let's be honest.

We are all going to experience that at one point or another.

Trust me, I have my setbacks in believing sometimes also.

But when I say, "misappropriated" I want us to remember some things about life. One of which I just mentioned.

We live in a very fallen world. Because of sin.

As a Christian, I know we all tend to gravitate to the first sin. (Detailed in Genesis 3:1-7)

• Before we all start talking mess about Eve, let's be mindful. Yes, she committed the first sin. However, it wasn't the last.

• You sinned yesterday, right? (It's okay... I did, too)

I point that out because sin has been cycling through the world since almost the beginning of creation. Because God gave man (and woman) free will, the decisions made then and now create an imbalance of how God created the world to be, and what it actually is now.

We blame "bad" on God because He is the Creator of all things. But doing this also means we contradict seeing Him as a good, good Father.

God didn't "create" bad. He allowed it, because we wanted it.

When we really sit and think about our lives:

• The things we've done

• The things we continue to do

• The world around us

It's amazing how God still allows us to wake up everyday. How He provides us with oxygen, gives us the ability to love, creates communities for us to connect and make it through each day, blesses us with opportunities to make a living, gave us His SON to die for our sins...

Did I mention, OXYGEN!?!

And SALVATION!?!?

Go read Leviticus and take a good, long look at all the things we no longer have to do because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Go ahead... I'll wait.

You read that fast! ☺️

When we write down the pros and cons of this life, it's important to see we have so much EVIDENCE of God's existence. (Some is even backed by science, y'all - but we won't go down that rabbit hole today.)

Hebrews 11:1 tells us "Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen."

But I'd challenge us to fuse this scripture with Isaiah 42:20,

"You have seen many things, but you pay no attention; your ears are open, but you do not listen."

We are surrounded, daily, by things in place to remind of us God's goodness, grace, and mercy. Let's be aware and not take them for granted, just because we are blessed to have them at our fingertips consistently.

I look at the news, especially now, and I am reminded how blessed I am to wake up everyday not in an actual warzone. With all the things I do wish were different, or "better," I'm extremely blessed.

It's truly unreasonable to doubt the existence and goodness of our Heavenly Father.

Do I have all the answers? Nope.

Does any pastor? Nah.

We must choose to see the good, with more intention and focus than staring into the bad.

Because we do have the evidence.

I pray as you read this (and for anyone returning to read again) you find peace in the unknown of God.

Because we definitely have peace in the unknown of man.