Mark 9:17-27 Help my unbelief!
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 27, 2018, Mark 9:17-27
Note: A friend recently made me aware that some people might be uncomfortable with the area here where I am considering the idea of epilepsy as opposed to straight-forward demon possession. At the time that I had this devotion, I was exploring two ideas: one was how faith worked in healing and the other was learning to dig into the details of a Bible story. In these devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the example because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
(Understanding the Text) The boy’s symptoms sound like epilepsy. He falls to the ground, grinds his teeth while foaming at the mouth, and his body becomes rigid. The boy has an attack in front of Jesus where he fell down and rolled about while foaming at the mouth. In the past this had often happened to him where he fell into fire or water endangering his life. When Jesus commanded the spirit to come out, the boy cried out and convulsed a lot before becoming like a dead body. After a seizure, it is common for epileptics to lapse into deep unconsciousness. Now, this description was from Peter who believed like most people of his day that disease was caused by evil spirits. My question is was this a spirit or a malfunction of the brain? Jesus calls the spirit something different than usual: deaf and mute spirit. Was Jesus using the terminology of the day to communicate with people who needed to have faith in order to be healed, or was there really an evil spirit possessing the boy? The reason I wonder if there was not a spirit is not only the epileptic symptoms but also Jesus’ unusual question about how long the boy had been experiencing the symptoms. Since it had been happening since boyhood, it does not seem like possession.
The man answers Jesus’ question but tacks on the request for healing with the “if you can” added on. I can see Jesus giving the man a penetrating look as He repeats the doubting words. Then, he says that all things are possible for those who believe. Was he showing the man that part of the problem before had been the man’s own lack of faith? The man realizes what he had said and thought and worries that somehow he himself had ruined his own child’s chances of healing. He starts crying. Maybe, he had started crying before as he watched his child rolling around on the ground, or maybe he starts as he realizes that his own attitude and words might keep his child from rescue. He loves his son so much that he feels despair at his own attitude. He cries out the famous words that have brought hope to many, “I believe. Help my unbelief.”
This must have all happened in a short time because some of the crowd had not reached them yet. I’m not sure why it says that Jesus started the healing process when He saw a large group of people running toward them. Maybe, He knew that there would be mass confusion when the others got there, and He had this short time period to work with the man’s faith before others came and brought back the man’s skepticism. Maybe that crowd was the scribes finally deciding that they needed to get there and put in their arguments with Jesus Himself. Anyway, Jesus wanted the healing finished before the crowd arrived. He commanded the spirit to come out and the boy convulsed greatly and appeared dead. Maybe, the healing process required a total rewiring of the brain and the boy was actually brain dead until that process was completed.
The man’s faith was probably tried even more as he saw his son’s limp body and heard people in the crowd saying that his son was dead. His heart probably plummeted to his feet, but before he could begin to say anything, he watched as Jesus walked over to the boy, leaned over and grabbed his limp hand, and pulled him up. As Jesus did so, life flowed back into his limbs and the boy stood on his own. Now the father’s heart leapt and joy filled him. He probably rushed over and hugged his son tightly.
(Revelation of God / Application) It does not matter what the problem or situation is. God can deal with it. I tend to think that my own problems are too large or small for God to overcome, I need to ask God to help my unbelief. The problem I have is the one referred to by Jesus when he talked about the fact that there were many widows but only one was helped by Elijah. “But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:25-27). I always believe that God has the power, but I just don’t believe that He will use it to help me personally. I need to say with the father of the epileptic, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” My other problem is that I think that I am bothering God, or that He is telling me no for some reason, and if I keep pestering Him to get what I want that something bad will come out of it like Hezekiah getting ten more years of life and then showing the Babylonian representatives his treasure house instead of praising God. I just don’t understand about prayers of faith and answers to prayers.
Jesus was so confident of the power He had in connection with the Father through the Holy Spirit that He was surprised that people did not believe. He knew what He could do in this connection. We do not know what we can do because we do not have the experience of working with God to accomplish great things. We do not try out God’s promises by stepping out in faith. We work only within our own limited understanding of what is possible, so we do not try for the impossible. We do not let God work wonders in us.
(Prayer) Please work wonders in me and show me when to ask for more and how to ask for more. Help me to step out in faith when You call. Give me the assurance that I am doing Your will when I take that step.