Devotional

 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” —Mark 9:24 

 Sometimes life can overwhelm us. An unforeseen change, an accident, a failed relationship, a difficult diagnosis—so many things can shake us to the core. From our vantage point, with our eyes, with our minds, we have no earthly idea how things will work out. 

For parents, nothing is more devastating than a crisis in the life of one of their children. There’s an example in Mark’s gospel.  

 A dad brought his troubled son to the Lord, hoping Jesus would deliver the boy from years of suffering by an evil spirit. This dad understood it to be a matter of life and death. 

 Desperate for the well–being of his child, he pleaded with Jesus: “‘If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’ ‘If you can?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes’” (Mark 9:22–23). 

 This dad’s brutally honest reply forms our verse for this week: “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24).  

 The writer of Hebrews defined faith this way: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). This is so difficult to process when what we do see is so overwhelming.  

 In the story from Mark’s gospel, we see this father’s head and heart colliding—cognitively he believed Jesus could help, but emotionally he had lived with this burden so long, his son’s healing seemed too good to imagine. 

 How do you pray in desperate times? When troubles loom large, blocking your view of what’s next, may the example of this father’s earnest and honest prayer speak to your heart.   

 My prayer for this week: 

Lord, will you use this life’s most challenging obstacles as a means of growing my faith? Thank you for the assurance that even though I cannot see my way past, around, or through some of this life’s trials and tribulations…you do. I believe. Lord, help my unbelief!