A Case Study of Doubt

Thomas . . . said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
–John 11:16

Doubt is something we all deal with in our lives. Today and tomorrow, we’re going to look at the champion doubter of all time: the apostle Thomas. I like Thomas because he would say what everybody else was thinking, and God honored Thomas’s sincere questioning.

John 11 is the first time we see Thomas say anything in the Bible. In John 10, the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem wanted to stone Jesus. So when He planned to travel back to that area, the disciples said, in essence, “Lord, are You really going to go back there and risk Your life?” The unspoken question was, “Are You going to risk our lives?” In John 11:16, Thomas said, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”

Sometimes we question what’s happening to us and whether God is going to take care of us. A few years ago, Texas experienced a historic and deadly freeze. Our house lost power for three days, so my wife and I were without heat. If we had a problem, nobody would be able to get to our house. I asked my wife, “Do you think we’re going to survive this?” She thought for a moment and said, “I think so.” It wasn’t a resounding statement of faith, but it’s all she could muster. In the same way, Thomas expressed his faith despite his doubts, saying the disciples should go with Jesus even if it meant dying alongside Him.

The next time we see Thomas is on the night before the crucifixion. Jesus was explaining to His disciples what was about to happen to Him, but He assured them, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going” (14:3–4). Thomas said, basically, “We don’t have a clue where You’re going. How do You expect us to know the way?” Jesus responded, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (v. 6).

It’s natural to question what lies beyond this life. But Jesus said there is a heaven, and He showed us the way to get there: through faith in Him for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus honored Thomas’s sincere questioning by sharing the truth.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Moving from Doubt to Faith,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.