One of the disciples doubted the resurrection. When you doubt or question God's perfect plan by snapping or snarling at someone or something, when you shut down or claim up over a hardship, when you ache with the question of how did 'this' happen to me, when you wonder where our rightful God is in a world that sometimes goes so wrong—all of which could have happened with Thomas—reach into the scripture I'm about to share because it will enable you to walk away from worry, set you free from strife, and release you from a harbor from heartache and earthly disappointment. The scripture I'm about to mention is Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

That verse is familiar to you now because it's the churches' memory verse. It's the verse I've entrusted you to hold when your boat takes on water, when your sail isn't full, or when you've hit rock bottom like some of us have. The scripture that starts our sermon is also our first sermon point. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Trust in the Lord. Do not rely on your own understanding.

On that first Easter night, the disciples relied on their own understanding. They cowered in an undisclosed house behind locked doors because a number of them had seen Jesus alive, and now are scared. In essence, they did what Thomas did and what many of us do today. They did not trust in the Lord. They leaned only on their own understanding  yet in the midst of this doubt, Jesus suddenly stands in the middle of them and says what Jesus says to those who doubt today: "Peace be with you." Jesus, the risen Lord and Savior tells them that they can feel peace in their hearts. They can feel peace in their hearts because he is with them. They have nothing to worry about.

He shows them his hands and side to prove to them that he isn't a ghost, but that he is the same Jesus they had known, the same Jesus they had seen crucified just three days earlier.

The Apostle Thomas misses this evening with Jesus.  I think that by the Divine hand he misses this time so that we today can enter the picture. Let me repeat that. I think God orchestrated Thomas to miss time with Jesus so that we today can enter the picture.

In other words, I suggest Thomas's absence was a part of God's bigger plan. I think God purposefully kept Thomas away that first time so that we can learn just how we, like Thomas, can come to Jesus.

Now a couple of disciples may have been late to that gathering. Certainly we've all been to a meeting where someone has walked in a few minutes after you. After all, maybe the Facebook page of the day didn't post the upcoming event of their meeting. Or maybe there were disciples with what I call unique qualities like mine and, in being technically challenged, messed up what they used then as a GPS system. Perhaps they arrived at 14 Race Car Way first, then 41 Race Car Way, and then realized what to us is obvious: race cars weren't yet invented, so there could be no street named Race Car Way!

Isn't it a little odd that just one of them misses Jesus? No where do we have recorded a single disciple doing an act or action alone. No, there were always at least two disciples present at all recorded times in our scripture. For example, as early as chapter one in the Gospel of Mark, we read that Jesus is always with small group of people whom he later commissions as his disciples. Even to the end, if we remember from last Sunday, there were two disciples, Simon Peter and John, who, after hearing Mary Magdalene, went to the tomb to find it empty. So, why was Thomas alone, especially then?

Here's my answer. As part of God's perfect plan, which includes today the plan he has for you, I suggest that Thomas missed Jesus' return for our benefit.  I think the Creator who is renewing and reviving us had Thomas miss Jesus that first time so that we can see that Thomas' doubts may actually our own.

Let's face facts here at First Congregational-UCC. Too often we don't trust God with all of our heart. We don't trust God with all of our heart because, gulp, we can be a lot like Thomas.

Here's what I mean. Thomas was a practical person. He lived in a practical world. He was shattered on Good Friday when Jesus died. But he wasn't about to succumb to fantasy. Like any stoic New Englander two centuries back would agree (and some of those New Englanders founded and paid for the pew you're currently in), Tom here understood the cold, hard facts about that afternoon when Jesus looked up to heaven and breathed his last. No one in their right mind would hold a question when the Romans said a prisoner was dead. They were experts at killing! It's not that Thomas didn't want to believe that Jesus was still alive. It's just that Thomas knew how the world worked. Yes, dead was dead, and that was it.

But Jesus is not dead, nor is his resurrection merely spiritual, somewhat effervescent resurrection where there's some ambiguous thought Jesus arose only in the sense that his spirit goes marching on, sort of life the way the spirit of Abraham Lincoln continues to influence America.

No, Jesus can be as real to you as he was to Thomas. How so? Jesus won't desert you when your options are out. Jesus won't turn your back on you when everything you've planned has a sudden shift and you're out there wondering. No. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, that's point one again; do not lean on your own understanding. In all you do, seek his will and he will make your path straight. He will show you which path to take.

I reiterate point one because it perfectly marries point two, which is more scripture. This time it's from the Psalmist who wrote Psalm 121:3. Here's our second point. He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.

Jesus isn't going to walk out on the plan he has for you. He's not going to abandon you when you're faced with the toughest challenges you have to face. No. He will not let you stumble. Instead, the one who does not slumber, who does not sleep, will set you on the path that is good and right and true—and he will set you on the path that is good and right and true when you trust in him, when you give your whole heart to him, when you finally say, "I can't figure out what's going on here, Lord, except that it hurts, and I'm hurting. And I need you. I need your help."

God gave us the situation with Thomas so that proactively, passionately and purposefully we, like Thomas, can enter today's story. As ones shattered like Thomas at the death of his friend and teacher, we can wonder about the cross and the resurrection.

There's an entry point with this scripture. Often we're afraid to face our doubts because we're afraid of what we might find. We're afraid of what others might think. People might find out how weak our faith really is, so we keep our doubts to ourselves. And yet, our doubts don't go away – they're always there, and doubt slowly eats away at our faith, until we believe in Jesus less and less, and we become more and more skeptical, like Thomas, in our story for today.

What can you do to get rid of doubt? Do what Thomas did. Touch Jesus.

This is what cured Thomas of his doubt. Thomas responded by saying, "My Lord and my God!" Thomas had become a man of faith, a man who believed in Jesus, even though everything he knew about the world would tell him otherwise.

The only solution, the only way, that you can get rid of the doubt in your heart is to have moments with Jesus Christ, like Thomas had.

"Now wait a second," you might say. "Jesus appeared to Thomas. How am I supposed to have a moment like that?" When does Jesus come to you, and speak to you, like he spoke to Thomas? When does Jesus chase away your doubts? When does he transform you into someone who strongly believes in him, like Thomas did after it was all over?

Today, Jesus comes to you through his Word. He will come to you through the Bible Study we begin Wednesday. Be present to that. Open yourself to that time because it's promised that every time you hear the Word of God, Jesus steps into your life and says, "Peace be with you." Through the scripture, yes, that's how Jesus appears to you and speaks to you, just as he spoke to Thomas.

I can be practical like Thomas. I know that to some, the words 'Bible Study" can make a mind scramble for an excuse not to attend. But how is Jesus to touch you, and, in turn, you touch Jesus?  I return to scripture for our final point, which is this. Be still and know that I am God. In other words, don't scramble, stall, or slide away from the perfect God who wants nothing more than to surround you in perfect love. Yes, our final point today is this from Psalm 46:10. Be still and know that I am God.

Be still. Don't be busy with shallow excuses. Be still. Don't avoid your own GPS system, the one that never fails because it always leads you to God. Yes, be still and know that God is God.

Earlier, we talked of Abraham Lincoln. This is what our sixteenth president says about God being God. Our landmark, influential President writes, "That the Almighty does make use of human agencies and directly intervenes in human affairs is one of the plainest statements in the Bible. I have had so many evidences of his direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other power than my own will that, in the quiet times that have followed, I do not doubt that His power comes from above."

Like Lincoln, be still enough to see the bigger plan, even if you're in a place of pain. See the bigger plan, even if you feel like you've shown up late, missed the meeting altogether and don't see Jesus the others do. See the bigger plan. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. See the bigger plan, which is God at work. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways seek his will and he will—without a shadow of doubt—show you the way. The one who does not sleep will not let us stumble, or fall. Instead, he comes just at the right time and touches us.

To touch Jesus yourself—and we all need to touch Jesus, each and every one of us—be still in the sunshine or the storm. Stay close to the Word of God.