I couldn’t see meteors in the pre-dawn sky: ‘Doubting Thomas’ and faith in our unseen Father

I went outside early this morning to watch the Lyrid meteor
shower. However, clouds and light pollution kept me from seeing what sky
watchers across the Northern Hemisphere saw and photographed.

Did my failure to see any streaking meteors mean that they were
not there? Am I to discount the experiences of others who claimed to see what I
did not?

‘Doubting Thomas’

The apostle Thomas will forever bear the first name
“Doubting” because he wanted to experience for himself what others
claimed to have experienced. They met the risen Christ, but he was absent from
their gathering and told 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 20:25).

Did Jesus reject his disciple for his apparent lack of
faith? The opposite occurred, in fact: eight days later, Jesus appeared again
before them and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands;
and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe”
(v. 27). Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28).

This encounter is not recorded in Scripture for Thomas’s
sake, but for ours. He would never forget what happened. John was inspired to
record Thomas’s experience so it can be ours.

By quoting the very objections Thomas raised earlier, Jesus
showed that he knew his questions and ours. By meeting Thomas at the point of
his doubts, our Lord showed that he will meet us at the point of ours.

Faith in our unseen Father

Your greatest questions and problems today likely have to do
with the unprecedented pandemic we are enduring. But one of the tragedies of
this tragedy is that it can mask other tragedies in our world.

For example, the World Health Organization is warning that…