Mark 9:17-29
“Teacher, I brought you my son…” (Mark 9:17 NIV)
The list of things parents would not do for their children is a short one. This father has served time as a witness to torment—beginning when his son was merely a child. He hungers for his boy to be free, to hear his boy speak—so he calls out from within the crowd.
Jesus, full of compassion and watchful for faith, invites the desperate father to believe for his son’s deliverance.
“Everything is possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23 NIV)
In a tone a few levels beyond casual, the man blurts-out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NIV) This couplet captures the familiar tension that overtakes our efforts to trust God. We believe, but we also wrestle doubts.
Circumstances with uncertain outcomes have a way of wrapping their coils around us, constricting our faith. One or more of these might feature in your story right now, squeezing your peace, asphyxiating your joy.
- Significant cracks in the marriage foundation.
- An unexpected diagnosis with legitimate peril.
- An ongoing job search with no promising options.
- A strained relationship boiling toward a confrontation.
- A child wandering far from the main road of faith.
We really want everything to work out. We really need everything to work out.
Fear creeps in while we wonder about how the Lord will answer or when the Lord will rescue. A little bit of fear, mingled with our script for what should happen, shifts the balance in the tug-of-war for trust. When we lose balance, we fall—tumbling into fantasies about worst case scenarios. Hope evaporates. We decide we don’t deserve God’s help, so we stop asking for it. In darker moments, we accuse God of unkindness or worse, indifference.
Today’s scripture invites us to learn from the desperate father – asking Jesus for help with our doubts while we ask Him for help with our problems.
Prayer is a safe place for the tension of trust. Speak to God about your fight for belief, your weariness from waiting, your occasional panic—born of fear that nothing will ever change. He already knows.
Scrape together bits of faith and shape them into a prayer of boldness.
- Ask for repair in the marriage cracks—with new heights of joy and fulfillment for both of you.
- Ask for complete healing in your body—with glory given to God as you live on to tell the story.
- Ask for an open door into the job of your dreams—as provision for your needs and a place to live out your purpose.
- Ask for a relationship miracle—that turmoil and conflict flip into reconciliation and peace.
- Ask for mercy as God brings your prodigal to their senses—so that you can praise Him when celebrating their return.
Reach for trust in the Lord today—even as part of you doubts. He knows what pulls on you, what looms large, making you desperate. He is aware of the tension within you. He sees your core belief and your circumstantial unbelief.
You have not been forgotten. You have not escaped God’s notice. He sees you. He understands every detail of your situation. He is at work, behind the scenes, arranging things for His glory and for your good. Hold your circumstances in open hands. Lead your soul to prefer the outcome God prefers.
Mark’s Gospel does not record the father’s reaction when the boy stood up, finally free. But we can imagine it, can’t we? Shouts of joy. Long embraces. Father and son speaking words of love that went unheard for so long. Tears. Praise to God.
What’s next in your story—the outcome—is not unknown, it is simply unnamed. God is shepherding your days to align with His plan. And every plan of God is good.
O Lord, I am a messy mixture—coming to you in trust, coming to you in need.
Father, you are sovereign over my easy days and the hard ones. Thank you for managing my life through a plan that is unflustered and perfect. I trust you.
Jesus, flex your might in my circumstances, as you did long ago for the tormented father and son.
Spirit of Peace, produce the fruit of patience in my disciple’s character while I wait for you to reveal your plan. Increase my faith, to receive your good plan—whatever it is.
Lord, I believe. Please help me to overcome my unbelief.
Amen.
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