When Doubt Meets Jesus
Doubt is not a pitfall to avoid, but a pathway, if handled with care, to deeper trust and intimacy with Jesus.
Speaker: Zach Meerkreebs
Date: August 2, 2026
What if we were actually honest about our doubts? This week, Zach Meerkreebs unpacks the story of Thomas and shows how his honest questions became the very place where he encountered Jesus. Don't miss this powerful message!
Here's a 5-day devotional guide based on this sermon:
Day 1: The Way of Jesus Is Not Perfection
John 20:24–25 | Psalm 103:13–14
The way of Jesus was never about arriving with flawless faith. It is intimacy and honesty in the walk itself. Thomas' blunt statement, that he would not believe without seeing the wounds himself, sounds harsh until you notice he says it inside the community of disciples rather than walking away from them. The Psalmist reminds us that God knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. He is not asking for a performance. He is asking for closeness.
Day 2: Still Invited Back
John 20:26–29 | Romans 15:7
Eight days after his doubt was spoken aloud, Thomas was still in the room with the other disciples. And when Jesus appeared again, He did not lecture Thomas for his honesty. He offered exactly what Thomas had asked for. Paul writes that we are to welcome one another as Christ welcomed us. If Jesus made room for Thomas' hardest question, the Church is called to make that same room for people wrestling honestly today.
Day 3: I Believe, Help My Unbelief
Mark 9:20–24 | Hebrews 11:6
A father, desperate for his son's healing, gave Jesus the most honest prayer he had: I believe; help my unbelief. He did not inflate his faith to sound more spiritual. He named the gap and asked Jesus to close it. Hebrews tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God, but this story shows that the faith God honors does not have to be large. It only has to be honestly offered and hungrily brought to Him.
Day 4: A Question From Prison
Matthew 11:2–3 | Lamentations 3:22–23
John the Baptist had every reason, by reputation, to be certain about who Jesus was. Yet from prison, facing death, he sent someone to ask Jesus directly whether He was truly the one. Circumstances had not gone the way John expected, and his question came from that honest tension. Lamentations reminds us that God's mercies are new every morning, even morning that looks nothing like what we hoped for. Faith does not require our circumstances to make sense. It requires us to keep bringing our real questions to Him.
Day 5: Blessed Is the One Who Does Not Stumble
Matthew 11:4–6 | 1 Peter 5:6
Jesus' answer to John was not a rebuke but a blessing: blessed is the one who is not offended by Me, who does not stumble because I did not meet their expectations. That blessing is available to anyone willing to trust Jesus' character even when His ways are hard to understand. Peter calls us to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand. Humility, not certainty, is often what carries a person through the parts of faith that do not add up.