I do believe; help my unbelief

“I do believe; help my unbelief”

Familiar sounding words. They ring responsively in our hearts and minds. 

 The father of the demon-possessed boy is not alone. We’ve all been there.

It may be helpful to try to understand what this father may have meant by these words. Perhaps it will give us some insight into our own belief-unbelief combination.

In Mark chapter 9 a father has a son, who is demon-possessed. The demon puts both the boy and his father through terrible trials: “whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out.”

Furthermore, Christ’s disciples were unable to do anything to alleviate the suffering of both son and father. When Christ commands that the boy be brought to Him, “When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.” Upon seeing this display, Christ asks the father, "How long has this been happening to him?" The father replies, "From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.” 

And then the father makes the statement “But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" The disciples, greater in number than Christ, failed. If multiple men of God failed, could just one man—even their teacher—succeed?

Our Lord seizes upon the father’s words, “If you can?” and immediately adds “All things are possible to him who believes." In response, the father cries out and says, “"I do believe; help my unbelief." 

What did the father mean by “I do believe”? We can probably make a guess based upon our own experiences in life of ‘believing’ God.

What did he mean by”help my unbelief”? Again, we can probably make a guess based upon our own experiences in life of having ‘unbelief’ in some promise God makes in Scripture.  

Perhaps most baffling is what the father might have meant by combining belief with unbelief, trust with lack of trust, faith with doubt. 

While the Scripture doesn’t make clear precisely how these two diametrically opposed, opposite concepts co-existed, perhaps drawing upon our own life experiences, we can gain some insight into what might have been intended by this father’s words. 

I’ve been in such circumstances that caused me to waffle back-and-forth between faith and trust, and doubt and unbelief. You most likely have, at least once in your Christian walk, been there too, haven't you? Perhaps you find yourself there, right now, during this time of coronavirus turmoil? If so, you can identify with this father in Mark 9, can’t you?

So, what might the father have meant?  Here’s how I understand those words (largely drawing from my own, at times, internal struggle):

“I do believe”—that you are able to fulfill Your Promises that are found in Your Word.

“Help my unbelief”—I’m not so sure that You love me enough to help me in my hour of trial.

 We know, from Scripture, that God is able. What we are really doubting is His love and concern for us in a particular situation, a particular set of circumstances, an especially grievous trial in life.

 However, just like in the account in Mark 9, where the Lord Jesus Christ rebukes the unclean spirit and it comes out of the boy, our Heavenly Father is just as able to bring us through any trial in life that we find ourselves. There is an old hymn, whose lyrics reference a passage in Mark 4: 

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Our Lord has not changed—He is the same yesterday, today, yes, and forever!

“Yes”, we say, “but I’ve never questioned His power. It’s His love for me that I sometimes doubt. Does He love me enough to do this for me?”  

Brothers and sisters, our Heavenly Father as already displayed His great love for us in the most powerful way that He could. He gave us His one-and-only, beloved Son—the Lord Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins, to experience the wrath and judgment of Almighty God as He hung on the Cross as our Sin-bearer.  Paul, the apostle, puts it this way in Romans 8:32:

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" 

Yes, how will He not also with Christ freely give us all things? The answer to this rhetorical question is: He will. He will freely give us all things. How do we know? 

Because, He has already given us His very best, His one-and-only, unique, beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If He has already given us His very best, then it is a small matter, indeed, for Him to give us blessings and help that ranks lower than what He gave to us in His Son, that are less close to His Father’s heart than His Own Beloved Son.

 Makes perfect sense. He has proved His great love for us once, and we have believed. He doesn’t need to prove it again with lesser things. So, there should be no room for “unbelief”; there is no room to ever doubt His love for you in any trial in life. 

Whatever life brings us, our Heavenly Father’s love is assured to us. We know this already. And if we ever doubt our Heavenly Father’s love, all we need to do is look to the Cross. All doubts of our Heavenly Father’s love vanish away when we focus on the Cross. 

Remember, . . . 
When it comes to His children
our Father in Heaven
is
too loving to ever do anything unkind
and
too wise to ever make a mistake.

 All things in our life are good gifts from our loving and wise Heavenly Father’s hands. If you and I ever doubt that—just look to the Cross!

Another traditional hymn puts this same thought in slightly different words:

O, soul, are you wearied and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior, 
and life more abundant and free.

Chorus:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful Face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
in the light of His Glory and Grace.

In all things, and at all times look to the Cross, look to Jesus! 

What you will see is His love for you. And, as you look, your “unbelief” will vanish away like the morning mist as the light of the Son shines upon you. 

On a personal note: It has been a great pleasure to contact over 200 of you, beloved, faithful GGC saints during this time of state-mandated non-gathering that has prevented us from gathering together on Thursdays and Sundays. It has been a true joy to speak with you over the phone, fellowship with you, and pray with and for you. I hope those who could not answer the phone, have listened to my voice mail and will phone back. Those of you who I haven’t contacted, there was no contact info for you at GGC. So, I encourage any who have not been contacted to phone the Church’s main number (M, T, W, F between 9am-3pm) and leave your contact info, and I will phone you back.

Brothers and sisters, if you have any concerns or needs during this time of trial, please don’t hesitate to contact the pastoral staff of Grace Gospel Church. If you don’t have one of their phone numbers, just phone the church office and they can give you Paul’s cell phone. If you haven’t yet received a pastoral phone call from Fred or Paul or Trey, you should receive one if you have left your phone number with Grace Gospel Church.

Also, please be sure to reach out to Jon DuPonte and thank him for providing the motivation to post these devotionals. Also, please give a shout-out to Kim Royds, who similarly encouraged this endeavor.