The Encourager
“"Help My Unbelief"”
“Help My Unbelief”
By Jeff Curtis
Many in the Bible struggled in their walk with Gd. We may be able to identify with some of these individuals. Elijah became discouraged (1Kings 19:10). Jeremiah wept and felt that his work had been fruitless (Jeremiah 9:1; 13:17). Peter often spoke before he thought (Luke 9:33). We can share in the plea of the father who said to Jesus, “I… believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). When the man asked the Lord to heal his son, Jesus replied, “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). That is when the man cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
No topic is more central to Christianity than faith – and no need is more critical than the strengthening of faith. Paul wrote; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).
The NIV has “a righteousness that is by faith from the first to the last.” The New Century Version says that God’s righteousness “begins and ends with faith.”
“Without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Heb.11:6). “By grace” we are “saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). We walk the Christian pathway “by faith, not by sight” (2Cor. 5:7). Faith is the shield that protects us from the devil (Eph. 6:16). Faith “is the victory that has overcome the world” (1John 5:4). The ultimate “outcome” of faith will be “the salvation” of our souls (1Peter 1:9).
As we consider the importance of faith, we also, may be tempted to cry, “We believe; help our unbelief!” In a study of the man who first made that request, we should consider the factors that weaken faith. Above all, we want to learn how faith can be made strong.
At the beginning of the story, Jesus, Peter, James and John had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, from the mountaintop pf peace to the valley of conflict. This is life, and that is how God has willed it. Like Peter, we may prefer to dwell on the mountaintop with the Lord (Matt.17:4), but life has to be lived where the people – and the problems – are.
When Christ and His group of disciples reached the place where they had left the other nine, “they saw… some scribes arguing with them” (Mark 9:14). The scribes were probably challenging Jesus’ credentials and the legitimacy of His ministry. Watching the debate was a crowd of curious people, the kind sightseers that might strain to see a car crash or other disaster today.
Jesus was disturbed by the scene, the bothersome crowd, the arguing scribes, the baffled disciples and the confused father.
Jesus responded to the father’s request, not “according to the poverty of… man’s faith, but according to the riches of His grace” (Eph.1:7). He said to the father, “Bring your son here” (Luke 9:41; Matt.17:17; Mark 9:19).
Jesus turned to the boy and “rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again’” (Mark9:25). This verse says that Jesus did this “when He saw the crowd rapidly gathering.” This might indicate that He had taken the man and the boy to the side to avoid any undue publicity.
The demon didn’t leave quietly. He cried out and threw the young man “into terrible convulsions” (Mark 9:26). R. Alan Cole called this display “the important rage of a defeated enemy.” Finally, the reluctant demon “came out” (Mark 9:26). The added command “do not enter him again” must have been a comfort to the father. The tragedy would not be repeated.
Men had failed, but Jesus had not.
