The End of our Faith - Jan. 27-31

So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “‘If you can? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.” - Mark 9:20-25

I love these verses in Mark. It’s such a great picture of the work God does in our lives. This father and his son have suffered a long time with this spirit. Who knows how many different things their family had tried over the years to cure this son, we know at least that he went to the disciples before this moment; even they had been unable to help him.

This father was at the end of his rope, not only in the physical sense with the suffering of his son but also in the spiritual sense with his lack of belief that anything could be done. Here though we see him make the right call, he brought both his unbelief and the suffering of his son before the Lord, before Jesus. Jesus of course in His mercy grants both the helping of this man’s unbelief and the healing of his son in one act, by casting out the unclean spirit in the sight of everyone there.

Many of us today are pretty good about bringing our physical or emotional needs before the Lord, to ask for healing from an illness, for financial stability or for the salvation of our children. But how often do we ask for more faith? Faith to believe His word, His promises, who He is, what He has done and what He will do. It seems contradictory doesn’t it to come before the Lord asking and believing for something while admitting that we don’t really totally believe? Yet we see here in this scripture how it played out, and if we all really think about it, we’re often in that same place when praying for something.

The glorious truth here is that the faith that God will move does not come from ourselves, we don’t just conjure it up but it is a gift freely given by God to Christians (Eph.2:8). When we’re at the end of our faith, we can bring it to God and say “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” Be blessed and have a great week!