I believe! Help my unbelief

“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”Mark 9:24

Reflection

Few sentences in the Bible are as honest as this one. A desperate father brought to Jesus his son, tormented for years. He had already tried the disciples, who failed, and came to Jesus with his faith hanging by a thread, saying: "if thou CANST do any thing, have compassion on us". Jesus returned the condition to the right place: "IF THOU CANST? All things are possible to him that believeth". And then the father cries out the most sincere prayer a divided heart can make: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief". In one sentence, he confesses faith and doubt at the same time — and Jesus answered.

This should set free millions of people who live feeling like second-class Christians because their faith is not perfect. Here is a man whose faith was mixed with doubt, full of "what if it doesn’t work?", worn down by years of disappointment — and Jesus did not reject him for it. Note: Jesus did not wait for the father to have an impeccable faith before healing the son. He received the imperfect, mixed, honest faith, and acted. God does not demand a faith without cracks; He demands a sincere faith, even if trembling. The faith that saves is not the one that never doubts, but the one that, even doubting, clings to Jesus.

The genius of the prayer lies in the fact that the father brought his OWN doubt to Jesus. He did not fake a faith he did not have, did not pose as a super-believer, did not hide the unbelief. He placed it in Jesus’ hands: "help thou mine unbelief". That is, he treated his own lack of faith as one more problem for Jesus to solve. This is deep wisdom: instead of being ashamed of doubt and pulling away, he brought the doubt close to Christ. Honesty about our weakness is the first step to its being healed. God can work with a confessed weak faith; what He cannot work with is a faked faith.

Perhaps you identify with this father. You believe — but you also doubt. You pray — but with one foot back. You want to trust fully, but years of unanswered prayers left scars of disbelief. If so, this is your prayer: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief". Do not wait to have a perfect faith to come to Jesus; come with the cracked faith you have and ask Him to complete what is missing. Faith is not a feeling you manufacture; it is a trust God strengthens when you are honest about your weakness. Bring today your "I believe" and your "help my unbelief" together — in Jesus’ hands, both fit.

Bible text: King James Version (public domain).