“‘If you can?’” said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.’” — Mark 9:23-24
The father of a son who was possessed by a demon asked Jesus, that if He can, would He heal his son. To say to Jesus “If you can,” might be an insult when asking the Son of God, and Jesus might have been a little surprised by this. Never the less, He focused on the need of the child and the doubting faith of the father. The man’s statement did express some doubt but the fact that it was made also expresses some faith. Can we have pure faith without any doubt? Our faith is subject to the presence of the Holy Spirit within our life. The more we have of Him, or He has of us, the more assured we are that we are in our Lord’s hands for whatever the need. Even needs like this one.
Jesus said that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. He means, of course, if we have our faith in Him, mountains can be removed because He will remove them. The specifics may vary as to which of our requests of Him will be answered affirmatively but the care remains. It may be that it is not necessary for the mountain we envision before us to be removed. Maybe there is another purpose for it that our Savior only knows. Thus, we trust Him exclusively with the faith we have, knowing He will do the best for us.
Heavenly Father, through Your Son the mountains that we face in life are confronted. May He continue to level them and make our paths straight. Forgive us for any doubt we might have and overwhelm us with more of Your Spirit to trust You completely. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
