Know Love Like This: 21 Days of Discovering God's Heart for YouSample

Too Good to Be True

By Hannah Etsebeth

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” –John 20:24–25 (ESV)

Staring out the backseat window of my parents’ sedan, I saw a bright light scanning back and forth across the darkened Kansas sky. Next to me sat my older brother, a very mature second grader who was 18 months my senior. Wondering what the light might be, I whispered, “What is that?”

He looked at me with a newfound intensity and gravely responded, “Oh! You haven’t heard?”

“No . . . what?” I whispered.

“The gorilla escaped from the Topeka Zoo today. They’ve been looking for him all day, and no one knows where he is.”

My eyes widened as I considered the repercussions of the news I had just received. And I knew one thing was certain: I would not be sleeping that night. My brother, however, would be sleeping just fine. Because he knew what I didn’t. He knew there was an airport nearby, and the searchlight was a normal part of the darkened skyline in that area. And he also knew that he had 100 percent made up that story about the gorilla. This pretty much summed up a large part of my childhood, growing up as the only sister with three brothers. Teasing was a form of love and a foundational part of my childhood, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Whether a result of all the teasing I endured or some other reason, I’ve learned that a sense of distrust is my first response to news that seems to be too interesting, too exciting, or just too good. (Not excluding the first few moments of my husband’s marriage proposal, to which I responded, “Really? Really? Really? . . . ”)

So, when I read John 20 and see Jesus presenting His resurrected body to His followers, I find myself sitting in a “too good to be true” moment. Thomas’s doubtful response feels all too familiar with the “too good to be true” news that the Christ, the One he had seen breathe His last breath, was in fact alive. Could it even be true? Seemed too good to Thomas.

Thomas wasn’t always a doubter. In John 11:16 we see a taste of his deep devotion to Jesus when he opposed the disciples who did not want to go back to Judea where they feared the Jews were waiting to stone their Messiah. When Jesus explained a bit more, it was Thomas who replied, “Let us all go, that we may die with Him.” In this passage we see a submitted follower who was willing to obey Him even if it meant he were to die with Him. I can imagine the grief that must have followed Thomas as he watched the things that took place on Calvary and the grief he must have carried into the day his friends told him Christ was alive.

Perhaps you’re familiar with a time like that: when someone tells you God can heal your broken heart or that your marriage can be healed or that God can answer your questions. It seems too good to be true, and in the aftermath of heartache, brokenness, and confusion, doubt comes.

After Thomas’s declaration where he essentially said, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” eight days passed. Eight days of grief. Eight days of questioning. Eight days of watching his friends celebrate the miraculous that had somehow eluded him. Eight days of the in-between, standing between the heartache and the belief in the miracle.

And then he saw Jesus. His hands bore the marks, His side bore the scar, and Thomas believed.

Today, if you are sitting in an in-between moment, I encourage you to take your heartache, your questions, your doubt, and your pain to the One with nail-pierced hands and a scar on His side. He is comfortable with all of your questions. He understands where you are, and He’s willing to meet you there.

Prayer

God, You know the areas of doubt I have in my heart, the places where I feel stuck. I pray that You will lead me out of my doubt and into Your truth. Increase my faith and my trust in You. I willingly place my fears, my questions, and my heartache into Your hands. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

For Further Reflection

• Is there an area of your life where you’re in doubt? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where He is working in that area, and write down what you hear Him say.
• Take a few moments to write a prayer of faith for that area of doubt you’ve been wrestling with recently.

Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?