How's Your Faith... Part 2

Part 2: How’s Your Faith?

Have you ever found yourself in spiritual turbulence, neck deep in some failure, hardship, storm, or being overwhelmed with brokenness that you couldn’t make any sense out of it? Have you ever been in a place similar to when Jesus said to his Father…” I can’t bear it?” Have you ever asked God to please make this problem go away? And it didn’t go away. Instead, God would respond, “I will send you comfort,” and you say, “I don’t need comfort, I need the problem to go away.” God says, “I will give you strength,” and you say, “I don’t need strength, I need the problem to go away…just make the problem go away.”

Even in the midst of your faith, God doesn’t always give you the answer you want…instead, he gives you the help that you need so you can walk through whatever darkness and uncharted turmoil with a relentless faithfulness that you face.

Jesus certainly experienced anxiety, fear, stress, sadness, and betrayal. You should be prepared to do nothing less than that.

In Mark 9:14-24 the disciples (minus Peter, James, and John) encounter a dad who is broken and is asking with all of the faith he can muster that they heal his son who has been possessed with a spirit that makes his son mute, that slams him to the ground causing convulsions, foaming at the mouth, grinding his teeth, and stiffening him out (vs. 17-18). The nine disciples couldn’t do it, and the Jewish leaders and crowd, also present, were giving the disciples a very hard time. Imagine the chaos! And then Jesus arrived on the scene with Peter, James, and John. Jesus asks what is going on. And the dad, living a parent’s worst nightmare, hasn’t been able to help his son, totally powerless, completely at his wits' end, who has tried everything for his son to no avail, says, “This is it, Jesus, I don’t have any other solution…I am out of options.” My son has been in his present condition since birth. I asked that he be healed, and your disciples couldn’t make it happen. Jesus says, “All things are possible if you believe.” And the dad responds, “I know all things are possible, but I am absolutely certain of nothing…my faith has been as stretched as it can possibly be…I am at the end of my rope...I can’t dig any deeper.”

Have you ever heard someone say, “If you have faith, you can have whatever you ask for, or when you don’t, you're told you need more faith, or you need to pray harder?” If you have lived several years of life, undoubtedly you have experienced some sort of devastating personal loss where the pain was so deep and you were in what felt like a hopeless darkness. And you believed with as much faith as you could muster, and you believed all things were possible. You found yourself in a desperate war of belief versus unbelief, trust versus no trust, building on the rock versus on the sand. It is in the middle of the war that you cry out…” I believe…help my unbelief.”

The boy’s father cried out the same…” I believe…help my unbelief.” The dad wasn’t playing games with Jesus; he wasn’t rebelling or rejecting Jesus; he was acknowledging that sometimes all you have is MAYBE. God may or may not give us what we ask for, but God will always provide us with the help that we need.

In the midst of our war with our faith when we aren’t getting the answer we are hoping for, we must remain faithful; we must believe all things are possible, though never certain; we must desperately search for Jesus, and we can’t ever throw in the towel. In our weakness, we seek strength from the community of faith that surrounds us and from God’s spirit.

Jesus honored this dad’s plea for help and healed his son. All things are indeed possible, just not always certain.

I absolutely believe in miracles, and I know people who have experienced healing. And we celebrate! I also know God’s ways are sometimes different than our ways, and the desires of our hearts aren’t always the same as God’s. And all we can do is remain hopeful and faithful.

Faith is indeed a great dance between us and God…faith is knowing and yet not knowing…faith prompts us to cry out…” I believe…help my unbelief.”

WAM

9/22/2025