Science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, was raised Jewish, but, while he kept some of the externals of his faith, he rejected its central focus on God. He was an atheist. In an interview, David Frost asked about his view on God, to which Asimov answered, “Whose God?”

“You know very well, Judeo-Christian God of western tradition.”

“I haven’t given it much thought.”

“I don’t believe that. I’m sure a person of your wide knowledge would have sought to find God.”

Asimov saw his chance and said, “God is smarter than I am. Let him try to find me.”

Asimov was certain that God, if He existed, wouldn’t mind an honest atheist. He suffered for years from the fearful pain of kidney stones. On the day the tape appeared on TV, with his wise-guy crack about God “finding him,” he had his worst attack.

He wrote later, “There’s no use trying to describe the bitter, unrelenting pain one experiences in such an attack. All I could do was clutch my abdomen, stagger about, and gasp, ‘All right, God. You’ve found me. Now let me go.’ ”

Doubts about God are not necessarily about the existence of God, nor about the Son of God becoming man, nor about Jesus dying and rising and ascending. The doubts, if and when they come, are most likely about your relationship to Him ... is He really there?

Jesus appeared to his disciples who were locked behind closed doors for fear. They thought it was all over and even though there were reports that Jesus had risen; it was nonsense, they did not believe.

Sometimes when you close the doors of your heart ... when there are confusions, questions, fears, difficulty in believing ... Jesus appears. He stands with you and says to you, “Peace be with you.”

This is no ordinary greeting, nor an ordinary peace that Jesus offers. He promised his unique peace to his disciples the night before his crucifixion, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. ... Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Jesus offers you this peace. What will you do with it? Will you try to push him out? No matter how many times you do push him out, Jesus returns to your heart, not only with peace but also as peace.

“Peace be with you,” he says.

Some people will tell you about his peace, but, as Thomas demands, we want physical proof, evidence: appear to us the way we want. Jesus comes, but not the way we choose. His peace comes to our spirits, our hearts. It is there we must search.

Is it easier to say, “All right God. You’ve found me. Now let me go,” than it is to say, “My Lord and my God?”

“My Lord and my God,” is always better; it’s the grace of faith.