And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn't do it." -- Mark 9: 18 (NLT)
There is no replacement for God Himself. Sometimes we can get to places in our walk where our one on one relationship with God is suffering. We tend at these times to seek out the people of God before taking it to the King Himself! Here the father tries to have the disciples cast out the demon but they could not. I am sure this made perfect sense to the father, after all these men walked with Jesus! Similarly, we can attend every healing service and be anointed with oil so many times that we can slide right of our pews - but to no avail. Our faith can suffer at each apparent failure. Like the father soon found out he needed to take it to God, not just the people of God.
Jesus said to them, "You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." -- Mark 9: 19 (NLT)
That is what God is saying to us today as we stare over the faith cliffs in our lives. Bring the boy to me. Bring that sin to me. Bring that addiction to me. Whatever it is that is keeping us apart -- bring it to me! The father brings Jesus the boy and offers the last shred of his faith up to Him. We can see how weak it is as the father asks, "help us -- if you can." You can almost hear the incredulity in the voice of Jesus as He responds:
"What do you mean, "If I can'?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes." -- Mark 9: 23 (NLT)
If a person believes. If a person stares down the cliff and turns around back to Jesus. Anything is possible. The response from the father is a prayer we all need to incorporate into our daily lives -- "I do believe, but help me with my unbelief." God does not expect perfection beloved. If you read the 11th chapter of Hebrews you will read the list of the heroes of faith throughout Scripture. Do you think these were all plaster saints? That nothing ever caused them to stray in their walk; in their faith? Abraham doubted and slept with Hagar. David doubted and took a census resulting in a plague wiping out his people. Moses was a murderer. They all had their cliffs to stare down and through the failures and successes; they came out stronger in their faith. We can believe in general and still struggle with an area in our life. We can believe in general and have an area we need more help with in dealing with our unbelief. God is not disappointed when we doubt as much as when we fail to seek Him in the midst of that doubt. We seek the world so easily today. We seek the counsel of godly and ungodly people. We seek self-help and motivational help. We seek therapy and medication. God wants to be sought. Bring the boy to me!
The rich young ruler was done seeking when he heard he had to give up his money and he walked off the faith cliff. The people from our key verse today also stared down that the cliff and jumped when the teaching got too hard. The last clue for us today however deals with keeping the right perspective when it comes to challenges to our faith and is found when Jesus turns to Peter and asks him if the disciples will also leave him at this point"
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God." -- John 6: 68-69 (NIV)
