Some things seem just too good to be true. But there’s hope, even for doubters.
Thomas was a practical man. He needed to know how things were going to work before he would assent. Is He really risen? Show me the nail scars. How will we get to heaven? Well, someone will need to give directions or scribble down a map. Abstract concepts didn’t seem to be working for him (John 14:5). He needed the concrete facts—that’s just how Thomas thought. Actually, it’s how we all tend to think. Why walk by faith, when you can walk by carefully peer-reviewed sight? (Goodness, Thomas would have loved the fantastic process of academic peer review!) The truth is, most of us are predisposed to doubt just like Thomas.
What then are we to think of Thomas’s faith? We must not make the mistake of thinking Thomas was totally devoid of it. He did believe. Yes, he doubted until the moment He saw Christ appear before him, but Christ Himself still recognized that Thomas believed. Perhaps we could say he was a man of slow, or maybe even weak, faith. Thomas is all of us; while we say, “I do believe,” we must also cry, “help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
Thomas’s life is a reminder of the incredible mercy of God. Jesus had spent years walking with His disciples, teaching them, explaining to them what would happen: how He would be arrested, crucified and buried, and how He would rise again. Thomas had heard all of it, again and again. But the death and resurrection of Christ was a wholly new concept, not unlike how we are slow to understand a color that’s left of red or right of indigo on the spectrum. When the fulfillment came, Thomas fled before Jesus’s captors. He had seen Jesus’s terrible death, yet he still could not come to accept that the rest would come true—that ultimately, it would end, not in sorrow, but in resurrection. It was too good to be true.
But, when at last the Savior stood before him, Jesus did not rebuke Thomas. Instead, He reassured him. He gently encouraged the doubter (John 20:27). What tender mercy! What abounding grace! It feels too good to be true.
As with Thomas, our own common sense and practical realism are often a barrier to deep faith. As with Thomas, we also often walk by sight, instead of believing that God will do just as He said. But for us, as for Thomas, there is grace. God is not threatened by your doubts, or undone by your hesitations. He is gentle and lowly of heart (Matthew 11:29). In His great patience, He calls us into the rest that He gives. The Lord, the Resurrected One who has conquered sin and death, is yet so gracious that He offers comfort to slow and foolish hearts such as ours.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!” (Romans 11:33). Despite our skepticism, He gently chides us, saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29), and then also offers us ever-increasing evidence of His faithfulness and truth. He offers mercies that are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23), that we may daily repent of our doubting hearts, and run to Him again in faith. The answer to all our doubts, as it was for Thomas, is Christ Himself. Fix your eyes upon Him, because the gospel is true, and our God is so very good.
Thank you Rebecca. This was a beautiful post that went straight to my heart.
Angie- this is the second time we’ve commented similarly around the same time. I feel like you state it more eloquently but I wanted to say I enjoy posting my comments and then reading to see you have posted as well. It is encouraging to me that we are on the same wavelength. :)
I think about how Thomas missed out on the first sighting of Jesus in His resurrected body. Upon hearing of the other disciples’ encounter, did he respond from a place of pain- possibly feeling left out, jealous, sad, or disappointed? I bet it was a long week of waiting for Thomas, wondering why Jesus hadn’t appeared to him too. Not knowing if he would get to see Jesus like the others. As is the theme in this study, Jesus graciously met Thomas where he was. Thomas didn’t need to touch Jesus, as soon as he saw Him, his faith was restored. Jesus loved him too!
How often do I focus on what Jesus has not done for me, wavering in my faith at the unfairness of it all? Wondering how long I will have to wait? May I have the endurance to continue to live by faith, knowing He is coming to see me soon. Jesus loves me too!
Both your and Angie’s posts are touching to me today….focusing on what Jesus has not done for me and the unfairness, like you said, is so like me. May Jesus’ grace abound!
 I trust my Jesus! Even when all around me it’s telling me something else. My God is faithful! I put my trust in HIM!
Lots to unfold today, lots to do. It’s very disheartening what people do and say but I put my trust in Jesus. Please pray as my sister in Florida after a week of quarantine at home found out she does have Covid. It took a week to find out the results. Thankfully since she’s been home for a week she is well on her way to recovery. another major prayer request. Please pray for my sweet nephew who had a mental break down this weekend. My heart aches for him. He is a sweet boy. He’s actually a young adult but I remember when he was born.
As a teacher, I realize that students learn at varying speeds and in many different ways. When I read Thomas’s question in John 14:5 I see it as a “help me understand,” question. Jesus was saying he was going to go away and then come back to get them. Then He added, “You know the way to where I am going.” Thomas was paying attention. Thomas was trying to take it all in but, literally speaking, Thomas didn’t know where Jesus was going so, how could he know the way. He asked because Jesus mattered to him. He asked because he had relationship with Jesus, and trusted that it would be okay to ask. In the classroom, usually the ones asking the questions are the ones paying attention. They are hungry to understand and so they are thinking, questioning, and trying. The ones not asking the questions may already understand, or be totally “lost” and need more help than a single answered question can provide.
After Jesus’s resurrection when the group, minus Thomas, saw Jesus…how wonderful that must have been for them! Their world had been ripped apart. They were alive, but living in fear and confusion. Having been with Jesus, they knew He was God’s Son, and yet, everything their human minds thought should happen, didn’t, in fact, just the opposite did. Jesus had told them ahead of time but, they didn’t truly comprehend…until they saw the Lord! I have wondered if Thomas’s statement about touching Jesus’s nail pierced hands and severed side was spoken in anger (because if they had in fact seen Jesus, Thomas had missed out) or in anguish (because he loved Jesus and it tore at his heart that his Lord bore those scars and he couldn’t/didn’t do anything about it), or if in his despair about it all he had almost given up? Whatever the motive of Thomas’s heart, he did see Jesus a week later. In the presence of Jesus, Thomas did not need to touch His wounds, he proclaimed his heart, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus responded with truth, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Thomas had anguished an extra week in unbelief of what he had not seen. Truly, those who believed without seeing were more blessed.
I am thankful for the extravagant grace of God. He is a God of relationship. When Jesus gave His life upon the cross of Calvary the veil was torn. He doesn’t need me, yet He wants me to draw near. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. God’s Word that fills, feeds, and draws near. Worship. We could not over exaggerate the grace and goodness of our God.
Lord, You provide always. When things seem good or struggles surround, You have gone before and remain with. You give the tools for faith. I pray for belief without seeing…I also thank you for allowing heart questions. Thank you for small group reteaching and individual instruction, patiently, lovingly, complete. Specifically Lord help me to learn, grow, please, and honor You, and thank you for your full love in the process, right where I am. Amen.
Going through the women and men of the New Testament has been so great. Everyday I feel like I go “That’s me!” and today after reading the first sentence of this devotional, I thought “I feel called out.” This year and season of my life has been difficult and seems to continue to be that way. And even though I know God is going to take care of me like He promises he will and always has, my logical brain is going, “When and how is this going to work?” But today’s devotion reminded me that God is still there with lots of mercy and understanding going “It’s okay”
Hebrews 11 (full chapter) in THE MESSAGE is very encouraging to me this morning. I find myself doubting as much as trusting in these precarious days. I need these reminders to walk in faith and not by sight – not by what I read and see in the news, but by what Jesus Himself has proclaimed and proven. Thank you, Jesus, for your grace and patience with me in my doubting times!
We have the history of Christianity, hopefully the faith taught by parents and grandparents and Sunday School teachers, the Bible, the Bible scholars, Ministers, friends, and so on to encourage growth in our walk with Jesus. Yesterday our minister pointed out in her sermon that we should ponder on the men that walked off their boats and jobs and life to follow Jesus blindly. What Faith! They were there in the beginning and yet followed. Doubts crept in, like Thomas, and they still do. We know in our hearts and minds that Christ is the Great I Am but Satan can worm the fleeting doubt “how can this be” in our worldly heads. It.Is.Okay! God is not looking down and condemning you for that. Remember there is “free will”. Our job, our faith as Christians, is to say “not today, not me satan” when doubts worm their way in. In this world currently there is so much that takes our eyes off Jesus. What can we do? We can have a “go to” scripture or scriptures that we can fall on. We can utilize breath prayer to get us through. We can rely on our brothers and sisters in Christ to get us over a hump. We can read, study and pray. We can also examine our life and those around us to discern any chinks in our armor. Be blessed today and feel God’s love for you.