“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Say what? How can you have belief AND unbelief. Isn’t that an impossibility? And who would say this – with such fervency?
And why is this important?
OK, confession, I realized that I do this over and over again. Maybe you recognize this in your life, too.
I will pray for a difficult situation asking for help and, of course, add my total belief that God is able. And I go look up all the “P’s” in my Bible. (I mark a “P” in the margin by a promise given about God’s love and care for me) Do I believe? Absolutely.
And then the “other shoe” drops and the situation gets worse – or something negative just piles on top of the first difficult situation. And time passes – with nothing changing. What’s immediately running through my head? “Lord, where are you? I thought I asked for and got your focus on this? How could this be happening?”
As Henry Blackaby says in his devotional on this, “Faith does not come from ignorance. Faith is based on what we know.” And I KNOW God is in control and can do whatever is needed. He is trustworthy – just look at all those “P’s” in my Bible.
So what’s the deal?
Looking at the scripture I started with above, I realized there was more learning I needed from this story. It is in Mark, chapter 9. A father was talking to Jesus about his son who had been possessed by an evil spirit since early childhood. It appears the father did not know Jesus well, but he had heard and seen enough to give him hope for his son.
So he cried out to Jesus in desperation asking Him to heal his son.
In describing the problem, the father told Jesus that the evil spirit “has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
Check out Jesus’ response – “If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” (v. 23) Ahh, that “belief” word pops up. And yes, I have a “P” by this verse.
Scripture says that “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!’”
Putting myself in his position, I would say I absolutely would be fully earnest in my begging speech and my heart would be declaring “belief” with every fiber of my body and soul.
Yet we learn that Jesus’ disciples had earlier been trying to cast out the evil spirit, which is the work Jesus sent them out to do along with their preaching of the gospel. “They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” (Mark 6:13)
So, the father was correct in coming to Jesus with his problem even though, as Blackaby pointed out, he was struggling with his faith.
Can you relate?
I appreciated Blackaby’s wisdom at this point. He said when you are struggling to believe, that is not the time to avoid Christ or to be ashamed of your struggle. You will never increase your faith by not going to Jesus!
This is so important. I recognize that when I bring something to God, I have set up my expectations, due to my faith in Him, that He will take care of the difficult issue. Ooops – I realize I also have laid out in my mind exactly what I think He should or will do. And then when it doesn’t happen as I have imagined or in the timing I want, I think my faith is lacking. And sure enough, it seems to be wavering a bit (or a lot).
Wonder if the father was feeling this way since the disciples who had cast out other evil spirits were not being able to help his son? And the evil spirit had wreaked its havoc for many years – surely he tried everything he could up to this point to get help for his son.
Thankfully, timing between his request for help and Jesus’ response was quick. Jesus commanded the evil spirit to come out of the boy and never enter him again. And with a shriek and convulsing of the boy’s body, the spirit came out leaving the boy laying limp as if he were a corpse. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet.
Can you just feel the joy of the father? Can you imagine the height and strength of his belief in Jesus’ ability to do anything? Been there – done that – more than once.
And yet, I would be right with the disciples who came up to Jesus after this event and asked “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” Jesus replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (v. 28-29) Oh, my – here’s a lesson for me along with the disciples. But we have to dig a bit deeper.
Scripture does not give a lot more about this, but the commentaries, and Blackaby, pull out of Jesus’ response this explanation.
Apparently, said one commentary, the disciples had taken for granted the power given to them – or had come to believe it was their own power instead of God’s. Lack of prayer indicated they had forgotten the source of their power was Jesus.
Well, that hit’s home for me – not comfortably.
Blackaby, in his usual clarity states: “Jesus wants to help you with your belief. He can not only meet your need, but He will also give you faith to trust Him to provide for you.”
It is dawning on me, again, that I went to Jesus for help with my difficult situation, and I did believe he could help, but my expectations and my response when they did not seem to be met were indicating I was not fully trusting the Lord with the methods, result and timing.
This addresses the other issue I had to recognize – “faith is never perfect – belief and unbelief are often mixed.” This is wisdom from a commentary source. I had been too simplistic in thinking you either have faith or you don’t. But remembering that faith the size of a mustard seed was sufficient, I needed to also remember that my faith needed prayer connecting me to Jesus at the same time. Just as the disciples learned – I needed to go to my Savior with my faith. “Help me overcome my unbelief.”
Leave it to Blackaby to sum this up well:
If you are struggling to believe that God can take care of your need, it is because you don’t know Him as He wants you to. Go to Him and allow Him to convince you of His ability to meet every need you will ever face.Amen. And if you want someone to walk alongside, give reflection, support and head with you straight to the Lord, I am happy to be available. Click HERE to find a convenient time to connect.
