Winks From Scripture: God’s Subtle Work Among UsSýnishorn

God Winks in Our Doubts

While doubt isn’t the end in and of itself, doubt can be a means to the end, which is trusting God more deeply. We shouldn’t dismiss our doubts. We should work through them.

Doubt is like the ache in my feet that stops me in my tracks. I must stop and deal with it. And I’m given an opportunity to see something special. A bird feeding its young. A deer trotting along a fence. A father pulling his daughter in a wagon.

John’s gospel gives the picture of a man with his doubts—an individual who must deal with what’s aching him—“Thomas the Doubter.” Yet the way John sketches the character of Thomas is a bit different from the unbeliever we mistake him to be. In rethinking his doubt, we catch a wink.

First, we must consider why John writes his gospel. He was evangelizing Jews who were expecting the Messiah. He wants his audience to arrive at the conclusion that Jesus is God. So he begins by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

In John 20, we’re told Thomas is not with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them after His resurrection, so when they tell him they’ve seen the Lord, he doesn’t believe it. Yet in the next verse, Thomas is with the rest of the disciples the following Sunday. He was wrestling with his doubts.

Jesus offers Thomas an invitation to know Him more profoundly, saying, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side.” Jesus uses Thomas’s doubt as the means to make him a stronger, more thorough believer.

Thomas’s response? “My Lord and my God!” This happens to be what John said about Jesus in his very first verse. By exploring his doubt, Thomas achieves what John was hoping his audience would gain after reading his gospel. This is the wink from Scripture. Thomas nails it.

Thomas’s example tells us that the road to faith is often paved by doubt.

Are you suffering with profound doubt? The doubt that is wrenching your soul will direct your eyes toward the luminous Christ. When you see what you ought to see, you’ll say, “My Lord and my God!” And God will wink at you...through your doubt.