Every morning I get up early and it is in this time of quietness that I pray as I think about my life, my family, my friends, the future. As I read the Scriptures this morning there was one verse that came to my mind: Mark 9:24, “I do believe, but….”
As I thought about the word, “but” I understood how that word replaces “I believe.” We either believe, or we do not believe. There is no walking the fence to God. Believing or unbelieving will always show up in ways that I live my life. I considered how many times that I have doubted what God has said to me. When I hear Him, I immediately believe, BUT then when the testing (waiting on His word to me to be fulfilled), I begin to doubt His word to me. “I believe Lord, but….”
I want to believe, I want to trust, I want to walk by faith, and yet it seems I come to doubting and to even shrinking back in my faith in Him when it gets hard to wait. For then I tend to do things I will regret later. It reminds me of the Lord’s parable about the “Sower and the Seed.” You can receive the truth from the Lord eagerly and joyfully, but then later (when life puts it to the test) fall away for various reasons. Very few keep going with the Lord, no matter what.
In this passage about a father with a son possessed by an evil spirit from childhood, the father goes to Jesus for help. The father had gone to the Lord’s disciples for help but the disciples couldn’t cast out the spirit. He says to Jesus: “But if you can do anything , take pity on us and help us.” Jesus replies to the father: “If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed: “I do believe, BUT help me with my unbelief!” The result was Jesus freeing the son from the possession of an evil spirit, but our faith in what the Lord can do is the key that releases His power when we come to Him with ANYTHING! Sometimes we see it immediately and other times we must wait – and not give up.
Lord, help me to overcome my own unbelief! I want to be known as someone You never heard the word “but” come from! I want to finish with You all the way to the end of my life on earth.