"Everything is possible for him who believes."

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Mark 9:23-24, NIV (1978)

 

This may be one of the most human passages in all of Scripture.

 

The setting is this: A boy had been plagued with an evil spirit that caused him to have seizures. In desperation, the boy's father asked Jesus' disciples to drive out the spirit, but they were unable. Jesus arrived at the scene and took over where the apostles had failed. The boy's father explained the situation to Jesus, and asked that if Jesus could do anything, would He please help the boy. Jesus rephrased the father's question with the following question, "If you can?" and then He revealed the truth we see above; all things are possible to him who believes.

 

This is the part I really can relate to - perhaps you can as well. The boy's father pointed out that he did believe but admitted that he still needed help overcoming the part of him that still had a little unbelief.

 

I think we have all been there, haven't we?

 

We know in our heart that God and Christ are capable of any good work. Most of us have no doubt as to this truth. Still, there is a human part of us that seems to "hang on" to our unbelief. After all, if we are seeking God's help it is likely that we are already trying everything we can think of. In this particular situation, the boy's father practically admitted that much. Since we have already tried and failed, and maybe even enlisted the help of professionals but they also failed, will God really help us? I think sometimes we realize that we don't deserve that help, but what we fail to realize is that God is still willing despite our shortcomings.

 

And we become like the father of the boy who had suffered so much in his lifetime. We want to believe that God can help... but will he? This type of logic is common among men, and it is likely that we have all had at least a similar thought process when confronting the completely desperate and seemingly impossible situations that we sometimes find ourselves in. Will God really help? This is the question we all have probably wrestled with on more than one occasion in our lives.

 

But we don't have to wonder at all, for Jesus has already given us the answer. With God, all things are possible! This is not to say that we can just ask for anything we want and that God will automatically fulfill our request in the same way in which a waiter will take our order and then bring it out as quickly as he can. We must understand that God can see things that we cannot. There are times when we are absolutely convinced that our request is the right one, and that there is therefore no reason whatsoever that He will not fulfill our request. We know that this is true from Jesus' own dilemma when He prayed in the garden for God to "take away the cup" from Him that He was expected to drink from when it came to His imminent crucifixion. 

 

But Jesus handled this request in exactly the right way, for He knew that God was fully capable of delivering Him from this moment, but that it might not be the best outcome in the long run. So, even though Jesus desired very much to not have to experience what He was about to go through, He knew in His heart that God's will was the best, and so He prayed for God's will to be done. And it was done, even though God's answer was not exactly what Jesus had desired at the time.

 

It's the same with us (though obviously on a much less consequential scale). There are times we that we really like someone and want to be with that special person, just as there are times when we have the genuinely good desire for God to heal a loved one. But again, we cannot see what God can see, and there really are times that He answers our prayers in the negative because that is exactly the best thing for the long run.

 

That's the first part.

 

The second is this: There are many, many times that our desires and motives are exactly right, and that the very thing we are requesting is the very thing that God wants for us to have. Because of this, we just need to pray with the faith and confidence that Jesus had in the garden. We need to be able to make our request with that confidence, knowing that God will answer in the affirmative if what we desire is for the best, but that He will never give us something that would be improper or even harmful for us or our loved ones. 

 

But knowing that, we still have to have faith!

 

James put it this way, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:5-8, ESV

 

James' point is the same as Jesus': If we are going to ask God for anything, that prayer should not be so devoid of faith as to believe that it is useless to pray in the first place. We have to believe that the One who created the heavens and the earth is capable of hearing our prayers and answering them in the right way. Otherwise, why are we praying in the first place? But then we get back to the human part: We still are mere men and women, and we still have natural struggles with unbelief from time to time. This is when we need the wisdom and honesty of the boy's father: We need to admit our need for God's help in instilling the confidence we need to rest assured that He will answer our prayers in the right way - every time!

 

And as we go through life, I believe we will find it easier to trust God (and trust really is the issue we are talking about), for we have already seen time after time that God is not only willing to answer our prayers, but that He is absolutely capable of answering them in the right way. So, once we have conquered our lack of trust (with the same help from God that the boy's father needed) we can then get on with praying to God whenever we have need of His help, and we can be fully confident that He will give the exact right answer. For, let's face it: God has never let us down, not even a single time.

 

That being the case, we need to remember one more thing when we humbly but confidently approach His throne with our requests: We need to remember to be thankful!