Doubt

John 20v24-29

Part 2

17^th April 2026

Last time, we started thinking about Thomas, who told the other disciples:

John 20v25b
"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."

As we saw then, Thomas wasn't the only one who doubted the Resurrection; all the disciples did. We saw that Jesus showed Thomas great grace, and gave him the proof he needed.

We all have doubts, but we have doubts about different things.

God appeared to Abraham when he was 99 years old and told him,

Genesis 17v15-17
"As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"

Abraham didn't doubt the existence of God. He didn't doubt that God had showed him favour. He doubted that a 99-year-old-man and his 90-year-old wife could have a child. He didn't believe in that moment that, as Jesus said, "with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). Perhaps you can relate. You believe in a sense that God is almighty, omnipotent and loving but you can't quite imagine God doing what you need Him to do. But "with God all things are possible".

In the next chapter of Genesis, God came to Abraham again:

Genesis 18v10-14
The Lord said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"
The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Abraham and Sarah were of one mind in this. I'm sure they knew God loved them but they doubted God would do such an amazing miracle for them, even though He'd promised He would. We can forget that God can do what seems impossible. We can disregard what God has promised. If you're married, I hope you strengthen your partner's faith, and don't reinforce his or her doubts.

At a time when Israel had been invaded and despoiled by the Midianites, the angel of the Lord visited Gideon and said:

Judges 6v12-13
… "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valour."
And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us…?"

Gideon didn't doubt the existence of God. He doubted that God could both love people and allow them to suffer. Many of us struggle with this.

Then:

Judges 6v14-15
… the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?"
And he [Gideon] said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

Gideon considered himself unimportant, insignificant, powerless. He doubted that God could use somebody like him. Many of us struggle with this, too. But God can use anybody who is willing to be used.

John the Baptist had a wonderful ministry proclaiming that Jesus was coming and the kingdom of God was at hand. He was a great prophet, a great man of God. But after he was arrested and put in prison, he sent two of his disciples to Jesus, saying, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Luke 7:19). He'd begun to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. When things seem to go drastically wrong, even great men of God can doubt.

Peter and his friends were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when a storm came up. Jesus walked on the water towards the boat and told them:

Matthew 14v27-31
… "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."
He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

I don't think Peter doubted for a moment that Jesus loved him, or that Jesus was good. He didn't doubt that Jesus could save him. That's why he cried out. He'd asked Jesus to command him to step out of the boat and walk on water, and he'd done it. When he saw the difficult circumstances he was in, he doubted that God would continue to enable him to do it. How many of us have longed for God to call us out of our comfort zone to do something wonderful for God's glory, and have heard God's call, and have moved, but when things got tough, doubted that God would protect and sustain us?

Peter was the first to acknowledge Jesus as "the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). He'd promised Jesus, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away." (Matthew 26:33) but when Jesus was arrested and interrogated by the Sanhedrin,

Matthew 26v69-75
… Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean."
But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you mean."
And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth."
And again he denied it with an oath: "I do not know the man."
After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you."
Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the cock crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.

I'm sure Peter still believed that Jesus was "the Messiah, the Son of the living God". But he doubted that staying true to Jesus was a better bet than denying Him. When persecution comes, many church-going people choose to deny Jesus rather than take the consequences of remaining faithful to Him. In England we haven't known full-blown persecution, thank God, but I expect that in work situations, or social situations, or family situations, many of us have denied Jesus in some small measure, rather than have a difficult conversation, and risk losing our job, or our friends, or the respect of our family.

These few examples show us that we can doubt many different things. We're all different people, with different lives, different challenges. But God loves us, and He doesn't stop loving us because we have doubts.