Mark 9:14-32
The Healing of a Boy with an Evil Spirit
14When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
16"What are you arguing with them about?" he asked.
17A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 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 out the spirit, but they could not."
19"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me."
20So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it 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 he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. 22"It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
23" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
24Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
25When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
26The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
28After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
29He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer."
30They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." 32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
A father has brought his son to Jesus...The boy was possessed with an evil spirit...The father knew Jesus could heal his son, because He had healed many...But at the same time the father knew Jesus could heal His son, he still has doubt and had some unbelief...The father even asks the question to Jesus,"if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us"...Jesus repeats part of this phrase back to him, "if you can"...Jesus may be saying, "if you can" implies some unbelief, some doubt in Him and about Him...Jesus understands the man had faith in Him, but also had doubt, and some doubts about Him...Jesus knows this is how men think...Jesus, basically tells the father (and us) that all of eternity awaits for those who believe...
The father ask Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief...I think this is a perfectly rational request and a great prayer to Jesus (when we have doubt)...It would be great if the father and all of us could believe in Him, without any doubt...C. S. Lewis says when we examine our faith, it is fine that doubt comes in...That is just a part of being a man...We should not be afraid of our doubts...But when a doubt has been satisfied and has been answered, our faith should then be stronger...So in some cases doubt can strengthen our faith...We need to prayer continually as St. Paul teaches us to go at times from doubt to belief...George McDonald also thought that when doubt is used, in this context, and is satisfied and answered faith grows and strengthens...So when we have doubt, especially a lot of doubt, we need to step back and start praying...God maybe using doubt as a tool in us to strengthen in faith...
It seems God has created man to have doubts, denials, and to forget Him...It seems if we never doubt the Father and Son, we would not deny Him or forget Him...Jesus tells us we can do great things without doubt, or if we lose our doubt, anything is possible...But even after God through Moses has led His people throughout the desert, Moses tells the people not to forget the LORD...Peter denies the LORD three times on the night of His arrest... Although we can debate that denial and forgetting are not the same as doubt, they are two ways we drift from Him...When we deny Him, when we forget Him, and when we doubt Him we must come back to Him with prayer...
All men have doubts...Doubt seems to accompany bad times more than doubt accompanies good times (although doubt is in both times)...We must realize that doubt is a part of us, if we are to overcome it...We can learn from doubt...We must as St. Paul teaches us when I am weak then I am strong...When we doubt, we need to try to make it as much as a positive learning process as we can...When we have a passion for something and doubt it, then we pursue those doubts and learn from those doubts...Great doubts can lead us to great truths...
We must ask Jesus to help us overcome our unbelief...When we have faith, we can make the impossible become possible...We need faith in the Father and Son for this to happen...