Help My Unbelief!

"I do believe! Help my unbelief!"

It sounds so contradictory doesn't it? How can you believe and need help with your unbelief at the same time? 

I bet most Christians know.

That's a quote from Mark 9:24. A man was asking Jesus for a demon to be taken from his sick son who convulsed, foamed at the mouth, and couldn't speak. Jesus's disciples had already tried to remove the demon from the boy, but they were unable.

Jesus asked how long the boy had the condition, and the man said, "From childhood...and many times it has thrown my boy in the fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us" (v. 22).

My heart aches for this man. This wasn't a short term thing. If he was saying his son had been like this from childhood, then it must have been years. 

In my head, I can see him. A man, once happy and strong, now beaten down and weary, his spirit tired from the constant battle. He is worn with worry and riddled with despair (in my imagination, not the Bible).

He is desperate. Jesus is his last hope...and that's hanging by a thread.

Jesus says to the man, "'if you can'? Everything is possible to the one who believes" (v. 23).

And here's where the man says it - the phrase that calls to every Christian heart when they desperately need and want a miracle - "I do believe! Help my unbelief!"

Arthur Pink called this "The Believer's Paradox." In his writing from 1937 he said:

Unbelief is the great burden of the saint. It grieves his soul—the man in our text wept over it—do you? Gladly would the Christian be freed from this plague—but the Lord does not see fit to remove it in this life. Frequently it acts like a cloud that covers the sun, for there is nothing so effectual as unbelief in hiding from us the light of God's countenance.

...nothing so effectual as unbelief in hiding from us the light of God's countenance.

Wow.

How often have I felt this way? I know I should believe and I do believe, but oh Jesus, please help my unbelief! 

I was talking with my sweet friend Esther this weekend about this very passage and we both said that, often, it's not that we think God can't perform miracles, but that He won't. We are too worn and weary by the hopelessness and despair that surrounds us day in and day out. 

We know God can, but why would He? What if He doesn't? What if I get my hopes up and then they're crushed? Isn't it just better not to hope?

Apparently not.

God knows. Jesus knew. He didn't send the man away for saying "if"; He just gently showed Him his weakness. And this, again, is totally conjecture, but I think Jesus healed the man's son because of His response. It was pure and raw: a supplication to God Almighty in the flesh, wrought with honestly and humility.

And then He did - He healed the man's son. I bet there was some praising God in their house that night!! 

But later, privately, the disciples wanted to know why they couldn't drive out the demon. The answer was simple - that kind could only come out with prayer and fasting. 

Prayer and fasting? What does that mean? 

Prayer - communication with God; development of our relationship with Him.

Fasting - for a time, eschewing earthly food for spiritual food; leaning on God for strength and wisdom with every hunger pang.

The only thing that works in the hardest situations is total dependence on God. Jesus knew the answer.

So, here we are, wandering around this dark world, trying to be the light, but so afraid to hope. Is it too risky to dream? Or is it too selfish? Mark Batterson doesn't think so. In his book The Circle Maker (which I am just in LOVE with right now), he says:

Nothing honors God more than a big dream that is way beyond our ability to accomplish. Why? Because there is no way we can take credit for it. And nothing is better for our spiritual development than a big dream because it keeps us on our knees in raw dependence on God.

Big hopes and dreams honor God because we can't accomplish them by ourselves. That is a truth that fills up my heart with joy and sometimes it even spills out of my eyeballs. 

It's okay to dream big. It's okay to hope.

What have you been trying not to hope for? What have you been too afraid to dream? 

Cry out to God this morning. Tell Him you believe, and ask Him to help your unbelief. He's not our genie in a bottle, and He won't give us anything we want, but He will answer prayers that are in alignment with His plan and if we are seeking His glory.

Batterson says, "Jesus taught multiplication. He promised that He would multiply His blessings if we work like it depends on us and pray like it depends on God."

He wants us to hope and pray, and He will ALWAYS answer...even if He doesn't answer the way we think He will or the way we want Him to.

He always hears and He always answers.

You just have to ask....


Linking up today with:
Time Warp Wife