Help My Unbelief.

A man cried out “Help my unbelief!” Stephen explains the background to this “Stepping Out” story and explains how it is relevant for us today.

Weakened Faith

In this installment of “Stepping Out”, we’re going to look at what we can do if we experience a weakened faith.  Let’s begin by reading an interesting event found in the Gospel according to Mark, chapter nine.  To set the context, this happens immediately after Jesus took Peter, John, and James up the mountain and was transfigured before them.  Now they are returning to the other disciples.

And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, 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.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Mark 9:14-29

A Standard Miracle of Jesus

Now, on a quick read through, this may seem like another standard miracle of Jesus, not that any of His miracles were remotely close to being standard.  But we do have several accounts through the gospel records of people possessed by demons encountering the Lord Jesus and Jesus casting the demons out. In this instance, we first see that the man brought his son to the other disciples, while Jesus was on the mountain. 

Some additional context that applies here; in Mark chapter three, Jesus calls the twelve disciples to Himself, and appoints them as apostles, so that they might be with Him, and He might send them out to preach, and have authority to cast out demons.  Luke also records the transfiguration and healing of this man’s son at the end of Luke chapter 9. In the start of that chapter, we see Jesus actually sending the disciples out on their own, to preach the gospel, and cast out demons.

Faithless Generation

So, this isn’t a case of this man bringing his possessed son to the disciples and asking them to do something they could not do.  They had done this work before, only this time, per Mark 9:18, they were not able to do it.  Jesus immediately attributes this to a lack of faith, saying

“O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?  How long am I to bear with you?” 

That’s a pretty strong rebuke, especially since it could be seen to include the disciples themselves, all but one of whom we know truly believed in who Jesus was.  It’s also interesting to consider, that while all things are possible for God, we do see two instances or conditions in which God won’t do something.  One, when it goes against His will, and two, when He first wants to draw out a true faith from someone.  This is clearly a case of the latter.

The Influential Scribes

Note that the passage begins with the scribes, that is a group of religious Jews who were responsible for copying and interpreting the Law of Moses, arguing with the disciples, amidst a crowd of people.  The scribes were an influential people.  They were regarded as highly spiritual, experts in the Scriptures, and generally viewed as righteous, at least according to man’s standards. 

They also, with few exceptions, are presented as a people that were completely opposed to Jesus and His ministry.  We don’t know what their argument was about, but based on the response the father of the child gives, it was probably concerning the authority of Jesus and His disciples to cast out demons. 

Imagine Being the Father

Imagine being the father of this child.  You know from the stories you have been hearing that there is a teacher named Jesus, and that He and His disciples have been healing people and casting out demons. 

So you bring your son, who has been tormented by a demon since childhood, to Jesus, and are greeted by these highly respected, supposedly godly men, arguing and stating that Jesus can’t do these things, or even, as the Pharisees in Matthew 12 accused, that Jesus only did these things by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. 

It could be enough to shake your faith.  It could instill doubts.  “Can Jesus really do these things?” “Would I be aligning myself against God if I allow Him to do this?” 

Causing Christians to Doubt

You know, it is amazing how outside influence can affect us, sometimes very easily. Even in areas concerning faith, I think of things we see even today that can cause the strongest Christians to doubt what they know to be true from God’s Word.  Scientific Journals are published which they claim disprove Biblical records.  Academic papers, even from within Christianity, that can cause us to question things like the truth of the gospel, or the authority of the Scriptures. 

Peers, who by their mocking can make us question if we made the right choice when we decided to believe and follow the Lord Jesus.  The Bible even speaks of that in 2 Peter 3:3-4, where Peter writes,

“Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 

I pray that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ your faith will be strong enough to overcome these challenges to what the Bible says.  But we can still struggle sometimes.  That’s when this passage in Mark becomes so beneficial to us. 

All Things Are Possible

The man eventually says to Jesus in verse 22,

“But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 

Jesus picks up on his doubt and responds, “

IF you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” 

And then we have that beautiful response from the man, “I do believe, help my unbelief.”

There are so many attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ that I could think about and enjoy forever.  His love, His mercy, His compassion, His perfection, His goodness. 

One that perhaps I don’t consider and enjoy often enough, is His understanding.  The father of this child is being extremely honest and vulnerable with the Lord here.  He acknowledges that he does in fact believe Jesus can do this thing he is asking, but is also willing to publicly admit to Jesus, that his faith is weak. 

That the outside noise, the opinions of others, even his understanding of the natural realm, attack his faith and create doubt in his heart.  And Jesus understands.  He doesn’t further rebuke or chastise the man; he doesn’t accuse him of trying to test God.  He does what the man has asked for, indicating that he recognizes and sympathizes with the man’s weakness of faith. 

Consider this, the man really made two requests of the Lord in this instance.  The first, was to help his son, to cast out the demon, the second was to help him with his unbelief.  Jesus granted both requests with one single action.  The son was healed, and the man now knew, that Jesus could do these things.

A Passive Faith

Sometimes, I think I can be guilty of having a passive faith, and I don’t think that I am alone in that.  But what do I mean.  I never lose faith in who I know the Lord Jesus Christ to be, or the incredible sacrifice that He made for me on the Cross.  I never lose hope in the truth that my eternal security rests solely on the finished work of Jesus and my faith in Him by the grace of God. 

I know in my heart that God is sovereign over all, and as the old song says is “bigger than all my problems and bigger than all my fears.”  But I also know there are times when I don’t live that faith out.  Times when I get frustrated, even wearied by the world around me and act like I have forgotten that God always knows what He is doing.  Times when I see problems unresolved, and think I have to take matters into my hands to fix them, only to become frustrated and upset when I can’t.  Times when I can be overcome with worry, because I can’t see a solution to my troubles.  Times when I listen to the world telling me how wrong I am, rather than to the Word of God telling me how right He is.

It’s Hard to Admit We Struggle

Have you ever been there?  I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think I am alone in any of these things.  And it can be hard to admit that we are feeling this way, especially when we consider that we are supposed to be strong in our faith, ready to move mountains. 

So, it is hard to admit to others that we struggle, to make ourselves vulnerable to the judgement of others.  It can be hard even to admit before God that we do. Oh, we want to be so strong for Him, don’t we?  We want to live lives pleasing to the Lord.  What would He think about our weakness? 

Well for one, He already knows, and secondly, Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that Jesus is not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but has in every respect been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Verse 16 adds,

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16

He understands our weaknesses and wants to help us by His grace and mercy.  Are we willing to let Him?

That’s why this man in Mark 9, whose name we don’t even know, is such an encouraging example to us.  He said, “I believe; help my unbelief.”, and Jesus did just that!

Living a Life of Faith is Not Easy

Living a life of faith is not always going to be easy.  We will have times of trouble, times of doubt, times where our faith is rattled to the core. 

Psalm 18:6 says,

“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.” 

Are we willing to do that?  To cry out to Him in our distress, from our weakness, and ask Him to help our unbelief.  He will help us.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he can turn our passive faith into an active faith, one that helps us live with full confidence that God is in control of all things, that His Word is truth, that even if we can’t understand all that is happening in the world around us, that His promises to us are certain, unchangeable, and eternal.

By Prayer

One final thought from our story in Mark 9.  Notice the response Jesus gave to His disciples when they asked why they could not cast the demon out.  He says this kind can only come out by prayer. 

If we read this account from Mathew’s gospel, we see that Jesus also called out their lack of faith.   Putting these two accounts together, we really see the urgency in this lesson. 

When we notice our faith waning, we can’t hope or expect that it will come back on its own, or that we have the power in ourselves to overcome.  We need the Lord.  Hebrews 12:2 identifies Jesus as the founder and perfector, or the author and finisher, of our faith. 

Why would we try to usurp that role from Him?  If we try by our own knowledge, wisdom or abilities to overcome our weakness, we will fail.  Not only that, but we may lead ourselves down a dangerous road where we think we have solved our problem but have really moved us farther from God and His truth. 

It is the Lord who gives us true strength in all things. 

Isaiah 40:31 says,

“but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” 

Philippians 4:13 says,

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

Psalm 73:26 says,

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

And Colossians 1:11 tells us we are,

“being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” 

If God is on our side, and willing to help us, why would we turn to anyone else?

How would you describe your faith? What’s preventing you continung to have faith when you are facing trials? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.