Honest about doubt.

Joh 20:25 The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I shall see the print of the nails in His hands, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days the disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace to you! 27 Then He said to Thomas, Reach your finger here and behold My hands; and reach your hand here and thrust it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God! 29 Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me you have believed. Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.

The disciples were so excited about the news, that they have seen the Risen Christ, they obviously had to tell everybody about it, and amongst those they told, we find Brother Thomas. “Thomas the Doubter”, as he became known.

Thomas voiced his doubts. He did not come out and call the other disciples liars, yet he said: " Unless I shall see the print of the nails in His hands, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Is it so wrong, to sometimes just voice an honest feeling, or an emotion, or a viewpoint? Thomas wasn’t present when Jesus appeared to the disciples. He knew something was up, but he wasn’t to sure about the facts and he queried them.

Then Jesus appeared the second time and He invited Thomas, to verify the truth. He then told Thomas: “now that you have seen the truth, believe.”

Thomas believed!

Thomas did what so many of us as Christians are afraid of doing. He voiced his doubts. He spoke up and asked, “can this be?”

It’s okay to sometimes, when things seem to be falling apart, when stuff just does not work out, when it seems that the breakthrough will never come, to ask of God. “when Lord?” or “why Lord?”

Jesus did not chastise Thomas, He did not scold him or rebuke him. No. He invited Thomas to come and verify the truth.

Sometimes we voice our `beliefs` but our hearts and minds are filled with doubt.

Yet we are afraid to voice it, to be honest before God, to admit our weaknesses. A Friend may ask “how are you?” and the Christian response is “Oh I am so blessed”, while we know, that in our hearts, we are struggling with stuff, with coming to terms with issues of faith. We are afraid of being ridiculed, being mocked, because we are so lacking in faith.

Thomas spoke what was in his heart. Doubt. Yet Jesus came and gave him assurance.

Jer 17:10 I the Lord am the searcher of the heart, the tester of the thoughts, so that I may give to every man the reward of his ways, in keeping with the fruit of his doings.

God knows our hearts. He is quite aware of our thoughts, including the doubts that sometimes want to settle in and destroy our faith. He also allows us the Grace to voice it, to say: “Abba, help me, I am struggling to come to terms…..”

1Jo 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.