Faith Disguised as Unbelief

“Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.’” Mark 9:24

This is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible and has been a battle cry for many of us when frightful or painful circumstances overtake our faith. The father knew he was standing in the presence of the One who could heal. He fully understood that if anyone could extricate the demonic spirit that had hold of his son it was Jesus. But even in the father’s belief in Jesus, doubt crept in. His statement to Jesus that preceded his proclamation above was ‘if you can.’

We certainly cannot judge this poor father who believed in Jesus but doubted whether He could remove the evil spirit. How many of us fully believe in Jesus for our salvation but doubt His activity in our lives? We believe He died on the cross giving us both invitation and authority to cross over heaven’s threshold. But do we really believe that God can use the bad that happens in our lives as a good thing for us? Do we really believe that His plans for us are prosperous when they feel harmful? Do we really believe that we want God’s will to be done for us when the will is heartbreaking? It is easy to believe in God for our salvation because Jesus did the work for us. What is more difficult is to believe beyond that act that was done on the cross. It is much more difficult to believe when the work is up to us…to accept that God is good even though tragedy strikes, or diagnoses are given. But our prayers of ‘I believe; help my unbelief’ is really a prayer of faith…a statement and admission that our faith is far from perfect. ‘It is the acknowledgement of our inadequacy that allows God to work in our lives…sometimes we are faced with something that seems to overpower our faith…so like the man we ask for more faith…If left to our own strength and our own faith, we would never make it.’ Got Questions website.

The next time doubt creeps into your fellowship with Jesus ask Him for more confidence…more faith… more belief and it will be given to you in exceedingly greater amounts. When we come to God in humility and lack, He will provide whatever is needed. He will help us in our unbelief.