Blog post number four: Rebuilding Faith Task 4
The Struggling Father
Passage: Berean Standard Bible Mark 9: 14-27
The Boy with an Evil Spirit
(Matthew 17:14–18; Luke 9:37–42)
14When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were filled with awe and ran to greet Him.
16“What are you disputing with them?” He asked.
17Someone in the crowd replied, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a spirit that makes him mute. 18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid, I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”
19“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”
20So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?”
“From childhood,” he said. 22“It often throws him into the fire or into the water, trying to kill him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23“If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!”
24Immediately the boy’s father cried out,“I do believe; help my unbelief!”
25When Jesus saw that a crowd had come running, He rebuked the unclean spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you to come out and never enter him again.”
26After shrieking and convulsing him violently, the spirit came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
Jon Bloom comments:
Issues of Fatigue and Feeling Powerless
“They also likely lived with a deep fatigue brought on by continual vigilance night and day. They may have endured a kind of recurring relational strain on their marriage that often accompanies stressful and painful parenting situations.”
Financial Difficulties
“They likely lived with the numerous ways their son’s affliction affected them financially, from the direct costs of seeking out help for him, to the indirect costs of having less time devoted to earning a living.”
Shame and misplaced blame
“And on top of all that, they likely lived with the shame that perhaps they, or their child, had somehow sinned and brought this curse upon the boy — a shame compounded by knowing that others likely wondered the same thing (as in John 9:1–2).”
Source: https://thinke.org/blog/all-who-believe-battle-unbelief-jon-bloom
What struggles come against you? What areas of your life leads to doubts about God and His ways?
Father watches over his young son. How might have he felt about the suffering of his son? Knowing that he was helpless to make the evil spirit leave for good.
Weak Faith: How Jesus Responds
How long did the father have to protect his son from the evil spirit that tormented him and caused him to be in danger (verse 21)? This spirit tries to kill the boy. Can you imagine the fear and constant strain this situation would bring into this father’s life?
What about Peter (walking on water) and Thomas (after death) who doubted Jesus?
Jon Bloom shares insights in his article: “All Who Believe Battle Unbelief”
There’s faith in this request; faith is why he sought Jesus out in the first place.
But there’s also unbelief; part of him doesn’t expect Jesus will be any more successful than others had been.
So, he receives Jesus’s rebuke, just like Peter did in the water and Thomas did when Jesus finally appeared to him (Matthew 14:31; John 20:27–29).
Source: Jon Bloom “All Who Believe Battle Unbelief”
Jesus rebukes the weak faith! Jon reminds us that this is an act of mercy:
“Jesus is the good physician. He does not coddle doubt and unbelief, just like a good doctor doesn’t coddle cancer in a patient. If left invisible and untreated, it will kill. So, what Jesus is doing is helping this struggling father see clearly his sin of unbelief, just like he did for Peter and Thomas.”
Jesus doesn’t cast away those who are struggling with unbelief, but rather exposes the areas of doubt and call us to faith.
The Serious Danger of Unbelief
Jon warns us about the presence of unbelief:
“But the presence of unbelief in us is often subtle. We don’t always see it clearly. It has roots in our unique experiences and in our unique temperaments, which make us uniquely vulnerable to its deceitfulness.
“Our doubts can seem to us understandable, even justifiable. But like all sin and fallenness, unbelief is spiritually dangerous. What we really need, even though we might prefer to avoid it, is for Jesus to mercifully help us see our unbelief, even if it means his momentarily painful discipline.”
Jesus exposes the sin the unbelief in our lives. This exposure leads us to trust in Him! Unbelief is an enemy to faith and it seeks to choke out a person’s trust and dependence on God.
We will face periods of time wherein doubts and uncertainties come against our faith. Our past hurts and disappointments impact our willingness to trust and ask for assistance.
Unique Battles of Faith
His unbelief had roots in his unique experience. So does ours. His fears and disappointments shaped his expectations. So do ours. He was vulnerable, in deeply personal places, to losing the fight for faith.
So are we. We can sympathize with this man when he pleaded with Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22), because we’ve probably prayed or thought similar things.
We each fight unique battles against this enemy, because each of us has unique experiences and unique temperaments that make us uniquely vulnerable to certain forms of unbelief.
Getting help to see our vulnerabilities to unbelief is crucial to winning our battles. And it is something Jesus is happy to help us with, if we ask him.
Jon explains that our past experiences impact our faith. Our personalities and disappointments in life impact the specific areas of unbelief that we encounter. Have you invited Christ to reveal your vulnerabilities in unbelief? Are you surrounding yourself with fellow believers to encourage and help you with accountability?
Coming to Him with Hope
Hearing stories of Jesus’s power over disease and demons stirred in him enough hope that he brought his child to see Jesus. Not finding the famous rabbi, he pleaded with Jesus’s disciples for help.
But they were no more effective than anyone else had been (Mark 9:18).
We can understand why his hope, and therefore his faith, seemed to be ebbing low when Jesus showed up.
When we pray seeking relief and it doesn’t immediately come, our faith can weaken. We live as fragile beings in a broken and dangerous world. Tragedies happen daily. Following Christ doesn’t us exempt us from suffering. However, hope leads us to Christ, our High Priest.
Our High Priest
Consider Hebrews 4:14-16
14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Commentary on Jesus as High Priest:
https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-High-Priest.html
Jesus Answers, He Disciplines us to lead us to greater faith
I have found that Jesus answers.
And he will answer you. He will answer the prayer, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And he’ll help you fight your unbelief by exposing it, that place you want to conceal.
But do not fear his discipline; fear unbelief. Unbelief will block the channels of faith, it will rob you of joy, and, if undealt with, it will destroy you.
The momentary pain of the discipline, however, is the path to greater joy, for it opens the channels to more of God’s grace — to more of God.
God’s discipline is a sign of His deep love for His children! He desires for us to live in joy and peace growing, and maturing in our walk with Him. While we don’t understand the many “whys” of life, He offers us a living faith that sustains and transforms us.
Vivian Brecker writes:
“We are His dearly beloved children; therefore, He will discipline us when we do wrong. He is not disciplining us to harm us, but rather, He is disciplining us because He loves us.
God disciplines the one He loves because He is constantly changing us and conforming us into the image of Christ. He wants us to grow more and more like His Son, Jesus. Through discipline, we can become better followers of God, and our relationship with Him will strengthen.”
Source: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/god/why-does-god-discipline-the-one-he-loves.html
Words of Grace & Hope 