November 4

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Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ John 20:27

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🔊 When the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl (in the former USSR) went into meltdown, and the barriers were destroyed between the reactor core and the world around, the effect was catastrophic.  People ran into the presence of that concentrated power to cover it with sand, and then ran out, knowing they would suffer irreparable damage if they remained for more than a couple of minutes.  In some respects, we can compare exposure to the heart and life of God with exposure to a nuclear reactor.  In this verse, Jesus invited his beloved Thomas to reach in and touch His wounds – it was as if the very centre and heart of God was opened to that disciple.  For Thomas, the effect of Jesus’ invitation was to destroy unbelief and hardness of heart, and to make him a true man of faith.  He cried out in immediate response, “My Lord and My God!”  It seems as though perhaps he had no need actually to put his hand into Jesus’ wounds in order to come to this life-changing realisation.  This verse pictures the truth that the wounded side of Jesus is open for anyone to ‘reach out their hand and touch Him on the inside’.  We, too, may enter into all the explosive power of His life.  We may have His love, His faith, His holiness, pulsating through the core of our being in all their creating, life-changing power.