A Father’s Feeble Faith
I would love to run spiritual interference for my kids, to keep them from darkness, to be able to witness God deliver them from their troubles. In Mark 9 the feeble faith of a father helped saved his son from a life of continuous demonic oppression.
Jesus walked up to a scene where the elite Scribes and the Jesus following disciples are arguing in front of the crowd that I suppose had followed this father and his son gawking out of dismay. Jesus walked onto this scene and everything changed. Everything. They stop bickering. They stop looking at each other. People’s lives were changed. A faith is emboldened. A life was healed.
Mark 9 :14-27 Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit
14...they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Him, were greatly amazed and ran up to Him and greeted Him. 16 And He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought my son to You, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 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.” 20 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. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 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.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out[d] and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 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.” 26 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.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
I wonder about this father. Before he encountered Jesus, how many other methods or people had he sought before he found Jesus that day. Had he witnessed Jesus’ healing power from a distance? Had someone in town told him about Jesus? I can see that he hadn’t given up hope that healing was possible, even after years of oppression and failed attempts at helping his son. He brought his son to people he thought could help. I’m sure he felt discouraged in that crowd listening to people argue over how his son could be healed when all the father wanted was for it to just happen. I imagine the father struggling with disappointment, wanting to yell, “Just heal him, stop arguing!” The boy couldn’t speak, the father was his only voice. I know he believed deliverance was possible because he was there, and he approached Jesus. He didn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t in Jesus’ presence and admitted his faith could be more. He says to Jesus, “If you can do anything.” His faith was there, but perhaps it was buried underneath pain or doubt. I can relate.
“If” is a repeated word here that makes me snicker imagining the scene playing out. I picture Jesus slighting smiling while raising His eyebrows knowing what gift He was about to give this family. Jesus replies, “If I can?” I can almost feel His mood, like watch what I am about to do. What Jesus does next is crucial. He turns to the boy’s father and asks him to evaluate where he was with Jesus. So often I’m guilty of pointing my finger at Jesus, questioning if He can do something when it’s actually my unbelief that is in question, not Jesus’ ability to handle my concerns.
So often I’m guilty of pointing my finger at Jesus, questioning if He can do something when it’s actually my unbelief that is in question, not Jesus’ ability to handle my concerns.
When things are going sideways, uncontrollable, or seemingly unfixable with those I love, especially my children, I need to be reminded to bring my concerns to Jesus. To talk to Him. To seek Him out. I know there at times I try everything but Jesus and His soul healing presence. Instead, I need to admit healing needs to happen. Admit I need His power to strengthen me. I must go to the one place where all true healing and satisfaction takes place, the presence of Jesus. Coming to Him with the faith, even feeble, that Jesus is in the business of taking what I have offered and making it more. Giving me more than I ever ask or imagine.
Ephesians 4:20 "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us."
