CAN GOD STILL SURPRISE US?
By Erwin Bourne—August 18, 2002

Our infertile imaginations bear little hope that the
improbable will happen.  So like Thomas, we let our
dreams fall victim to doubt.  We forget that
“impossible” is one of God’s favorite words.  When was
the last time you let some of your dreams elbow out
your logic?  When was the last time you dreamed about
every creature on earth hearing about the Messiah?
Has it been awhile since you claimed God’s promise to
do “more than all we ask or imagine”? 

Though it went against every logical bone in his body,
Thomas said he would believe if he had just a little
proof.  I know we’ve labeled him.  Somebody in some
sermon called him “Doubting Thomas” and the name
stuck.  He did doubt, but there was more to his
questioning than a simple lack of faith.  Thomas had
spent his life on waiting on the Messiah, and now he
was here.  Thomas was willing to spend his life for
him.  Not very much imagination, but a lot of loyalty.

Imagination?  Yes.  Jesus talked about the home he was going to prepare.  Though the imagery was not easy for Thomas to grasp, he was doing his best.  He tries to envision a big white house on St. Thomas Avenue, but just as he was getting the picture, Jesus asks, “You know the way that I am going.”  Thomas looks around at the other blank faces and then bursts out, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  If he doesn't understand something, he said so.

But he had a lot of loyalty.  Jesus told his disciples
that he was going to Bethany where Lazaras had lived
and died, and where the Jews had tried once before to
stone him.  Thomas was not going to let his Lord go
into the arena alone.  He said, “Let’s die with him,”
Perhaps it was this trait of loyalty that explains
why Thomas wasn’t in the Upper Room when Jesus
appeared to the other apostles.  He was left with a
crssword puzzle full of unanswered puzzles.

His turmoil then came from a fusion between his lack
of imagination and his unwavering loyalty.  He was too
honest with life to be gullible, and yet was too loyal
to Jesus to be unfaithful.  His realistic devotion
caused him to utter the now famous condition:  “Unless
I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers
where the nails were, I will not believe it.”  So he
did doubt, but it was a doubting—not springing from
timidity or mistrust, but from a reluctance to believe
the impossible, and a simple fear of not wanting to be
hurt twice.  It’s hard for us to believe that God can
surprise us.

Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he requested.  He
extended his hands one more time—and was Thomas ever surprised.  Thomas cried out, “My Lord and my God.”  Jesus must have smiled.  He knew he had a winner.  Any time you mix loyalty with a little imagination, you’ve got a man of God on your hands.  A man who will die for a truth.

Just look at Thomas.  Legend has him hopping a
freighter to India where they had to kill him to get
him to quit talking about his home prepared in the
world to come and his friend who came back from the
dead.


Inspiration by Max Lucado  in LEAVE ROOM FOR THE MAGIC
Edited by Erwin Bourne
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