Have you ever faced a devastating problem, and you have looked everywhere and to everyone you thought might help, and no one could help you? The problem is critical, and you are quickly losing all hope that anything will change and get better. Where or who can you go to for help? This is a situation that faced a desperate father in our Gospel reading for today.
As our Scripture opens, Jesus had just spent some time with His three closest disciples on top of a mountain, where He was transfigured (Mark 9:2-8). As Jesus returned back down the mountain, He noticed a commotion going on with the other disciples, the scribes, and other village folk. Not liking to see His disciples involved in a squabble, He asked what was going on (vs. 14-16). Then a man approached Jesus, and told Him how his son had a demon since he was a young child, and how he brought the son to His disciples to cast that demon out, but they had been unable to (vs. 17-18).
Jesus then rebuked the crowd for their lack of faith, and requested that the father bring his son to Him. As the boy was brought, he started to convulse and foam at the mouth, and the father begged Jesus to do something, “if He could” (vs. 19-22). Jesus spoke directly to the father then, saying that if he could believe, everything was possible. The father then gained a spark of faith, just a spark, and told Jesus he did believe, but still had some unbelief. Jesus then cast that demon out, and restored the delivered boy to his father (vs. 23-27).
Why were the disciples unable to cast this demon out when they had done so before, and had seen Jesus cast demons out numerous times? The boy had been tormented for many years, and there were many unbelieving people present. Prayer with great faith was needed in this case (vs. 28-29). Prayer is needed to accomplish work done in and through His power. Facing the evil one in both seen and unseen realms requires prayer accompanied by great faith. Jesus has the power for us to successfully overcome all evil. As the great 19th century evangelist D. L. Moody said, “He who kneels the most, stands the best.”
When the father came to Jesus, he said to Him “if You can do anything” (vs. 22). The word “if” is in the wrong place! It is not if Jesus can heal the boy, it is if the father can believe (vs. 23). As the Savior spoke to him, the father’s trust was strengthened, and he prayed for an increase in faith. Jesus spoke the Word of healing and deliverance. All things are possible to one who believes. Sometimes when our circumstances feel overwhelming, our prayer can simply be “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”
The saying “seeing is believing” should not be the saying for Christians. In the spiritual realm that is very seldom true. If we could see, why would we need to have faith? We need to walk by faith, not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). Do we trust in God’s unseen sovereignty and His personal care for us? In order to grow stronger spiritually, we must take our eyes off of our circumstances and look to the Lord. By trusting in His character, and believing in His promises, we can overcome anxiety and develop greater faith.
Faith is a trust convinced that God ultimately knows what is best, and that He will do what is right. Faith is a reliance upon God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Jesus is greater than any obstacle that we face. He put the stars in place. He gave the oceans their boundaries, and set the earth spinning. Jesus said “Let there be light” and it was, and it has never gone out. He has healed the blind and lepers. The devil can’t come up with a problem in our life that God can’t solve. It is not a question of what God can do, but only of what we believe He can do. Only we limit what God does through us.
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