Lord, Help My Unbelief

Life is hard. There are trials around every turn of every season. Small trials are manageable and we step through them easily. Others rock us to our knees. We can't physically get through. We can't reason our way through them nor can we buy our way through them. As we sink to our knees with no other hope but for God to do a miracle we find ourselves saying, "Lord if you can help me through this trial I beg of you to move mightily. I plead with you to will to help us. I urge you with all that is in me to come to our rescue."

Have you ever been there? Your emotions are so raw and frayed. You are bone weary from the battle of just trying to survive. You try to maintain faith because God is the only hope you have. It is easy to become discouraged especially as you see what only your eyes can see. When everything visible to you tells you there is no hope, faith can begin to leak giving room for despair.

There is a story in the Bible about a desperate father with a sick son in [Mark 9:14-29]. A very sick son. In his desperate condition he brought the boy to the disciples for help. The boy had an evil spirit that often threw him into convulsions. At times the evil spirit tried to kill the boy throwing him into both water and fire.

Sadly, the disciples proved to be of no help. When Jesus arrived on the scene he heard the whole story. It offended Jesus that the disciples had such little faith. They seemed to be the object of the statement when Jesus called them an "unbelieving generation." That phrase means a faithless and unfaithful. The disciples had witnessed many miracles. They did not have the faith to believe when Jesus was not present.

When Jesus arrived they brought the boy to Him. The father formed the only prayer he could think, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." That is a pretty good prayer. We want Jesus to take pity on us and help in life's most difficult moments. We want His compassion and strength leveraged on our behalves.

In [Mark 9:23] Jesus responded, "If you can? All things are possible to him who believes."

The father altered his prayer in the next verse, "I do believe, help my unbelief."

Unbelief is a formidable opponent. It is easier to doubt than to trust. It is easy to give up and give in than to believe God for a miracle. It is far easier to lose hope and think Jesus does not care. On this side of the computer there is no way for me to know all the things that fight to dethrone faith in your heart. I know what I face. I know what I see and both lend themselves to unbelief. Unbelief is the sure arch enemy of faith.

The wrong part of the father's prayer lies in the phrase, "If you can." With God there are no "if you cans." There never have been. With God there is only, "If He wills." Meaning if He purposes. Many times in my life I have pleaded for God's immediate intervention and God willed for me to wait. Jesus has compassion. He does care. He also has all the power to help. Sometimes I scratch my head as I wonder why He delays in sending the needed the provision, closing the doors on the job, and not providing the healing asked for. Brenda was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis eight years ago. I have pleaded with God to heal her. I know He can. The question is never, "If you can God." He always can. To this point He has chosen not to. Her joint ache. Nobody sees the struggle she has when she gets out of bed. Nobody hears the moans in the middle of the night. Nobody notices when she can barely move her fingers. She continues to smile, serve God, work, and offer joy and help to others. Why doesn't God heal her. It is not due to unbelief. I believe. I know He can. For now we continue to wait.

Jesus made a bold statement to that father, "All things are possible to him who believes." All things encompasses a lot. You cannot conceive of scenario that does not fit into the realm of "all things." I have seen people manipulated at the point of their belief. Some people have deeply damaged the souls of desperate broken people by saying your miracle has not come because you did not believe enough. That a guilt laden trip from the pit of hell. Not everyone doubts. Many believe. Many pray in faith. Many have stood strong in confident petitions.

Unbelief did not put Lazarus in the grave in John 11. God willed it to be so in order that He could bring greater glory to His Son when Lazarus came walking resurrected out of the grave on the fourth day. True belief trusts God no matter what. I have found it much harder to keep believing when my prayers were not answered in the time I wanted nor according to how I wanted them answered. If I truly trust the Lord I trust Him no matter how long the delay or what form the answer takes.

It is never a matter if Jesus can. The true question is what does He will and purpose to be done. For Lazarus that meant death. Yet it was not death. To be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. Lazarus lived more in the four days he remained in that tomb than he did at any other point in his life. Jesus willed a greater miracle. Lazarus came back to life. He walked out of the tomb. He lived to praise and serve Jesus for another day. That did not mean he was more alive. More believed because Lazarus died and rose than would have if he had just been healed. I wonder how Lazarus coped with rest of his life. How did he cope with life down here compared to eternal life with Jesus? Did he ever get homesick for heaven? Did he ever talk about life over there compared to life down here.

The ways and purposes of God are beyond my comprehension. All I know is I want to pray, "Lord I do believe and help my unbelief." Unbelief is just little faith or lack of faith all together. I want to grow in maturity and believe when the miracle comes right away for when the miracle is delayed. I want to believe everyday and all day.

What are you up against today? Things may look bad, real bad, to the naked eye. I ask you to forget what you see and let me ask you a different question. What do you believe? What do you believe God can do in your situation? What do you believe God is purposing?

 O Lord, I plead with you to help our unbelief. Many of us need nothing short a miracle and I know you are in that business. Please take pity and come help us. I know you can. You are strong enough. Nothing is impossible with you. I ask you to move our mountains. Move the mountain of cancer. I ask you to move the mountain of the housing market. I ask you to move the mountain of wayward loved ones. I ask you to move the mountain of despair that gobbles up our assurance in you. I ask you move the mountain of impossible. All things are possible to him who believes. I did not write that. You did. It is straight from your word and now for all those reading this, who's faces I cannot see and who burdens I cannot know, I ask you for miracles. I ask you to let them flow from heaven like a river. I pray for provision, peace, open doors, healing, restoration, repentance, revival, and whatever else is needed. All things are possible for the one who believes and I choose to believe for those readers today who struggle. I ask you for all of this in Jesus name. Amen.