Now Thomas , one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:24-25

I like the fact that Thomas doubted.  We know him as “Doubting Thomas.”  One would almost think that Thomas was the lone disciple who doubted the resurrection of Jesus. Yet, when women, just back from the tomb announced to the disciples that Jesus had risen, Luke records, “These words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” Luke 24:11

Thomas having missed the moment when Jesus appeared to the other disciples,  doubted the reality of what they had seen and what they had heard. He doubted, and found it impossible to believe the stories they told of resurrection.

We wrestle with doubt, when our world does not behave the way we expect and our assumptions of how God will act get crushed. We wonder who God is, and if God is. We ask, “If our assumptions have been terribly wrong, what can we believe?”

Doubts assail us at those moments when life gets messy. In our uncertainty we question much of what we thought we knew.

To our surprise we discover, the path to faith travels through doubt. A growing faith will always question  . . . Will not be afraid to ask  . . .  To search, or to delve deep for answers. The path of true faith will lead us through valleys and shadows.   Rachel Held Evans once said,  “Doubt is the fire that enlivens faith. Doubt taught me to hold my faith and beliefs in an open hand.”

The gift of doubt causes us to explore deep inside ourselves, and to search for answers in new places. Doubt allows us to discard what we have outgrown, and gives permission to ask questions we’ve been afraid to ask before.

I once read that, “Whoever searches for the truth, will ultimately find God.” Perhaps God gave us questioning minds, so we would take our doubts seriously and search below the surface of our faith.  And in the searching,  begin to understand the mind of God.

Thomas in his questioning and in his doubting, is met by the Risen Christ.  Even as we are met by the Christ who comes, especially in our doubting, to be present with us.