Unbelief

“If ?”

“How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.

He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”

“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

(Mark 9:21-24)

OK. Imagine you had this killer ministry going on where you were healing hospitals full of sick people every day; casting out demons right and left. Then, one day, a dad brings his son to you and right there in front of your very eyes the boy has a seizure! So, you do what you’ve always done: you whip off your jacket to expose the “S” on your T-shirt, and you say what you’ve been saying, and you pray like you’ve been praying and ….. nothing. So, you clear your throat, “Ahem,” and you say what you’ve been saying, but just a little louder, and you pray what you’ve been praying, but just a little harder and …. crickets chirping. The boy’s convulsing, the dad has this deer-caught-in-the-headlights kind of look on his face, and you? Kryptonite.

So, what do you do? Do you just figure that the boy must have had some sort of unconfessed sin in his life and that’s what’s causing the disconnect? But if that’s so, that’d be like saying that sin can stop the power of God, which you know’s not true. I mean, if that were true, no one could be saved. Right? Or, do you declare the boy’s been healed, even though he’s still writhing on the ground? Try that and the father’d think you were nuts. How ‘bout simply being puzzled? Now there’s an honest reaction. And that would be the same reaction the disciples had when they were confronted with this very same situation.

But the story’s kind of a mystery, don’t you think? I mean, we really wish we knew more about the circumstances. Like, where’s the mom? Or, was he a single dad? And how old’s the boy? Is he a toddler, a teenager, or a young adult? And where’s the medical records and chart on this case? I mean, is there a doctor in the house? Don’t we have at least something to go on in terms of a possible diagnosis? Maybe we should just call House because he always seems to figure this stuff out in sixty minutes’ time on TV. But really, there’s so little information about this incident that we just want to make stuff up to fill in the gaps of our imagination.

But the story is pretty simple, really. A man brings his demon-possessed son to Jesus’ disciples to be healed. They can’t, so the boy is brought to Jesus while a crowd gathers, at which time the boy convulses and the crowd collectively gasps. When asked, the dad tells Jesus that this has been going on for a long time, and that the boy’s almost been burned alive or drowned to death more times than he can count. And then he says to Jesus, “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” (Pause) And then Jesus, with those olive-brown eyes, stares at the dad and the dad is thinking to himself, “Uh oh. This can’t be good. I’d better duck.” “What do you mean 'If,' Kimosabe?”

I think there are at least two points to be noticed in this story. The first is that Jesus was helping the dad to understand that the issue was not with Jesus’ power, but with the man’s faith. Obviously, the man had some faith in Jesus or he wouldn’t have bothered to bring the boy in the first place. Or, maybe he was just desperate and willing to try anything. But, for whatever reason, his trust wasn’t at the level it needed to be. He still had some doubts. Maybe he was growing in his faith; but the fact is, he was struggling. Ever been there before? Yeah, me too.

Second, Jesus’ affirmation that “Anything is possible if a person believes” is limited to the context of the circumstances in which the statement was made. The Lord wasn’t saying that anyone can do anything if they only believe. That’d be like saying you can spread your arms and fly off the Golden Gate Bridge like an eagle. But regardless of what you believe, you’ll drop like a bag of cement into the frigid San Francisco bay and maybe, if you’re lucky, live to tell about it.

In response to Jesus’ challenge – “If?” – the father cries out with the sort of agony that only a parent could know, “I do believe; but help me overcome my unbelief!” What a strange statement. Isn’t that kind of a contradiction? I mean, isn’t it? Well, maybe. But Jesus, rather than condemning the man for a faith overwhelmed by doubt, immediately rebuked the unclean spirit and commanded it to leave the boy—never to enter him again. In fact, the exorcism was so complete that the crowd thought the boy was a goner.

The spiritual confusion of this father, however, is so typical of the intellectual and emotional turmoil that can plague any one of us at any given time. Let’s face it: no one has a “red-hot” faith ‘round the clock. For instance, we know there’s a God who made us because the evidence is so overwhelming that only a fool could deny it. (Psalm 14:1; Rom. 1:20-23) And, intellectually, we know that God cares for us because the giving of his Son as a sacrifice for our sins is ample evidence of that, too.

But sometimes we hurt so badly, physically, spiritually and/or emotionally, that our hearts overpower our heads. Agony pushes all logic aside and we begin to “think” with our feelings. Oh, we still believe and all, but we’re angry because we feel neglected. We can’t understand why God doesn’t rush to our beck and call. So, we pout and refuse to talk to him. And then we think we’ll punish God further by refusing to go to church. We may even say harsh things to him, almost literally shaking our fist in his face. Not you? Well, I’ve been there.

It’s at times like these that we need to get a grip. We need to cry out, “Lord, help me overcome my unbelief!” We need to ask for his patience. We need to weep. We need to analyze our situation and consider whether we’ve contributed to our own problems. But what we absolutely must not do, however, is to give in to our frustration. Because once we quit struggling with our faith, and then let it slide, we’re headed down a slippery slope that could lead to eternal ruin.

I think we tend to think of faith and unbelief as opposite ends of the same rope. But, according to Jesus, it’s possible to believe and doubt all at the same time. Really? Yes, really. Consider this: “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but you can also say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” (Matt. 21:21)

You see, what the father was saying is that he had faith, but he also had unbelief. And his unbelief had paralyzed his faith. It’s kind of like having two teams of horses hooked up to the same wagon and pulling in different directions. One team negates the other and you get nowhere other than to “Frustrationville.”

So, after identifying the problem, i.e., unbelief, Jesus later assured the disciples that their faith was not the issue. In fact, even if their faith was the size of a little mustard seed, it was sufficient to move mountains. The real obstacle was their unbelief. Later in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus even called them an “unbelieving and perverse generation.” (vs. 17:17) It’s like Jesus was saying, “You had faith, but it was undermined by your unbelief.”

Now, some translations interpret “unbelief” as “little faith.” For instance, Jesus’ answer in Matthew 17:20 begins, “Because of your little faith” – at least in some translations. But this, in my opinion, is a poor translation that makes Jesus sound like he’s contradicting Himself. The Greek word for unbelief (apistia), as used in Matthew 17:20, is the same word used by the boy’s father when he says, “Help me overcome my unbelief.” So, although some translators equate unbelief with little faith, Jesus – it would appear – is saying that little faith is not the issue. I mean, if a little faith can move a mountain, it can surely heal a demon-possessed boy.

So, it’s not the size of your faith that matters so much as whether your faith is handicapped by doubt and unbelief. It’s kind of like driving a car with the emergency brake on; oh, you can still drive the car alright, but you’ll get pretty crummy gas mileage and, eventually, ruin the emergency brake. Pure, childlike faith, untainted by grown-up unbelief, on the other hand, is what moves mountains. Pure faith is a strong faith.

So, what kind of unbelief undid the father and Jesus’ disciples? I don’t know for sure, but maybe they were unnerved by the sight of a convulsing child, frothing at the mouth. Any seizure is frightening, especially in a child, but it would have been especially terrifying knowing that there was a demon behind it. Unfortunately, natural unbelief is fueled by what we see and hear. And when it comes to medical issues, in particular, our unbelief sends us to Google looking for reassurance and hope – even if we have faith. Oh, we may be declaring the promises of God over our situation, but we’re also feeding our doubts by heeding our circumstances.

So, how do you deal with unbelief?

You starve it. (Mark 9:29)

You see, unbelief that arises from ignorance and bad theology can be corrected by showing people the truth. (Mark 6:6) But overcoming natural unbelief requires prayer and fasting. Your body needs to learn that it’s not in charge, and by fasting for a time you’re telling your five senses that there’s more to life than just bread. (Matt. 4:4) And the thing is, prayer and fasting doesn’t necessarily move God to action, and it certainly doesn’t move the devil. But fasting and prayer moves you. It affects you. So, instead of trying to build a bigger and bigger faith, maybe we need to stop feeding our unbelief. In other words, we need to fix the right problem.

 You know, when there’s a problem, a strategy that Satan sometimes uses is to divert our attention onto “fixing” the thing that’s not broken. That way, we’re doubly messed up: we’ve “fixed” the part that’s not broken, and not fixed the part that needs fixing. (That is, if we can “fix” anything in the first place, but that’s for another lesson) But if Christ lives in you, there’s nothing wrong with your faith. You might have a problem with unbelief, but your faith is not the issue. It’s unbelief that limits the power of God in your life.

Today, there’s a lot of emphasis on faith, and the getting more of it. So, like the disciples, we pray, “Lord, increase my faith.” (Luke 17:5) But Jesus’ response to that request was, “Your faith is not the problem – even a little faith will get the job done.” (Luke 17:6, my paraphrase). OK. But then why is our faith not the problem?

Because it’s His faith, not ours.

Paul said that he was justified by the faith of Jesus Christ and lived by the faith of the Son of God. (Gal. 2:16, 20) He understood that faith was a gift from God. (Eph. 2:8) And that’s why when Peter healed the crippled man outside the temple to the crowd’s utter astonishment, he gave all the credit to a faith that had come from God. (Acts 3:16) Unfortunately, too many times we think there’s something wrong with our faith, but that’s like saying God gives defective gifts.

He doesn’t.

So stop worrying so much about your faith – if you’re a believer, you already have enough faith to move your mountain. But maybe it’s unbelief that’s the problem and, if so, a little prayer and fasting is just what the Doctor ordered, and then be sure to schedule an appointment to see him next week for a follow-up.

Grace,

Randy