But Thomas said to the disciples, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25)
Thomas made some very strong demands in order to believe that Jesus had really risen from the dead. It didn’t matter what the other ten disciples’ told him about how they had just “seen the Lord!” (20:24). Even while they were all gathered together in the same place, talking about their recent encounter with Jesus and what he planned to do next, Thomas’ heart remained unchanged. He made a deal with his conscience that he wouldn’t believe unless he physically touched these claims.
Thomas was severely lacking faith in this situation, yet our Lord Jesus was remarkably patient with his unbelief. When Jesus appeared for the second time to the disciples, his first priority was to help his struggling disciple. Word for word, Jesus quotes Thomas’ demands so they could all be satisfied (20:27). What a tender and gracious Lord we have!
Have you been recently making your demands with God like Thomas did? Have you been saying in your heart that you won’t do (blank), until I see God do this. Now, don’t run further from him, but as we see in this passage, our Lord Jesus is patient with our unbelief. And he wants to help us trust him. So be on the lookout for how God is revealing himself to help you with your unbelief.