Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Verses 6-7
There have been a couple of songs written on this Psalm. I wrote one earlier this year.
Weekend--It's Me, O Lord
...every sinner who truly realizes the seriousness of their condition will see themselves as absolutely desperate for the Gospel.
And...
We also must realize that we never get away from our desperate need for the cross because the truth is, we are all still practicing sinners every day in thought, word, and deed.
John 20:19-29
Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." Then he showed them his hands and side.
The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you."
Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"
But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, "We saw the Master."
But he said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it."
Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you."
Then he focused his attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe."
Thomas said, "My Master! My God!"
Jesus said, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. EVen better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing."
In John's telling of the first appearance of Jesus to them after his resurrection, Thomas doesn't believe. I don't fault him for that. He wasn't there when Jesus appeared to them. He didn't see it. We are visual creatures. All of us have trouble believing things that we have not seen. Therefore, his response doesn't really surprise me or disappoint me.
I like Jesus's response to Thomas. He makes it a point to show him the next time. He gives Thomas the opportunity to do exactly what he said he had to do in order to believe.
But Thomas doesn't need to do that any more. He has seen. There is no record that Thomas did, in fact, touch the scars in Jesus's hands and side. He simply said, "My Lord and my God!"
We are the ones spoken of at the end of this passage. We have believed, yet we have not seen. No one living today (that I know of) has seen the physical body of Jesus in person. Yet there are millions of Christians all around the world. We are blessed, according to Jesus, because we have not seen, yet believe.
Grace and peace, friends.