Help My Unbelief! (Mark 9:14-29)
I drove my kids to school when they were in high school. One morning, I had finished my coffee, and I got up to get another cup. But I collapsed in the floor and started convulsing. Before I blacked out, I heard Wilson yell, “Daddy!” RJ came running out of the bathroom. Once I regained consciousness, I called Tammy who was halfway to work; she turned around and got me to the hospital. Long story short: I had just had my first grand mal seizure. My neurologist put me on Lamictal, and I’ve done well since.
One or two of you might have had a seizure, but I’m sure most of you have witnessed one. Did your children ever have a seizure because of a high temperature. Let’s get vulnerable: How many of you struggle with mental illness? Do you take Prozac or some other antidepressant? Have you ever sought therapy?
A little boy suffered from seizures and probably some mental illness—not because of any neurological or psychiatric condition; because of an unclean spirit. The boy’s dad knew he needed Jesus, the great physician.
The disciples couldn’t cast out that demon, and that seems to have damaged the father’s faith. Jesus promised healing if the father believed; the father cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” After the father witnessed the healing, he surely walked away with a strong faith; you can leave here with a strong faith. “Your unbelief can become your belief.”
Scripture (Mark 9:14-29)
verses 14-18
Jesus came to a crowd after the Transfiguration, and he asked what was going on.
A father stepped forward and said that the disciples couldn’t cast out a cruel demon from his son.
- The spirit made him mute—the boy could not express pain, frustration, emotions, or needs.
- The spirit seized him—the Greek means the boy suffered from seizures.
- The spirit threw the boy down, caused foaming at the mouth, and forced him to grind his teeth.
- After the seizure, the boy became rigid—utterly exhausted.
Modern readers would think the boy suffered from epilepsy and even mental illness. The unclean spirit might have inhabited the same part of the brain which causes those symptoms.
verses 20-22:
When the spirit saw Jesus, the boy convulsed. Unclean spirits often caused self-destructive behavior; and the spirit had greatly affected the boy from childhood—throwing him into fire and water.
The father then cried out to Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
verse 23:
“All things are possible for one who believes.” Keep it in context: Jesus meant his ability to perform miracles. If someone believed Jesus could heal him, Jesus could heal him.
verse 24:
The father cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Belief and unbelief both lived in this father’s heart, and the father asked Jesus for a firm faith.
verses 25-27:
Jesus commanded the spirit to come out and never enter the boy again. Exorcists of Jesus’s day used potions and appealed to a power greater than themselves. But Jesus had true power; when he told the spirit to leave, it left.
Application
“Your unbelief can become your belief.” The father approached Jesus with both doubt and faith. If you’re honest both faith and doubt dwell in your own heart; how can you have a heart of faith?
One: Problem
The father had a Problem, a son possessed by an unclean spirit. You certainly have a Problem yourself. “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). “All [man’s] days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest” (Eccl 2:23).
What is your problem? Where is your faith weak? Do you doubt God’s forgiveness for past sin? Do you doubt that God will walk with you through health struggles? Do you doubt that God will provide for you? Do you doubt that heaven will be your eternal home? Where is your Problem?
Two: Pro
The father went to the wrong Pro; he went to the disciples first. But only Jesus could get rid of the demon.
You, like the father, can go to the wrong Pro. You might ask a non-Christian friend to help with your problem. You might lie awake at night, sick with worry. Your Bible might be gathering dust. You may seldom—if ever—pray to your Father.
Instead of the wrong Pro, go to Jesus. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). Cast “all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7). Jesus will help.
Three: Pray
The father begged Jesus for a firm faith: “Help my unbelief!” Have you begged Jesus for a firm faith? Jesus: “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (Jn 14:14). “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (Js 5:16).
Do you struggle to believe God has forgiven you? Pray. Do you struggle to believe God will walk with you through your health struggles? Pray. Do you struggle to believe God will provide for you? Pray. Do you struggle to believe God will provide you a home in heaven? Pray.
Four: Peek
Peek at what God has done. The father surely knew what Jesus had done; why else would he bring his son to him?
Peek at God’s marvels with trust for the future. Peek at what God did in the beginning: Creation of the entire cosmos from nothing. Peek at Sarah’s holding a baby well past her childbearing years. Peek at the Israelites’ crossing the Red Sea. Peek at a virgin’s giving birth. Peek at the empty tomb on the third day.
Peek at what God has done in your life, too. God has gotten you through one hundred percent of your difficult days. Peek at how God stood by you when no one else would. Peek at how God strengthened you when your strength was gone. Peek at how God forgave you when you couldn’t forgive yourself. If God has been that faithful in the past, you can be assured that he will be that faithful in the future.
Do you need to claim God’s faithfulness as your own this morning as we stand and sing?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.