Between Belief and Unbelief

Chuckle: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a teacher. The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked. "Sure," said the boy confidently. "It means carrying a child."

Quote: "There is nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitor." --Frank Clark

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24 NIV).

I'm sure there have been times when you needed God to meet a need in your life -- when you knew God had done similar miracles as recorded in the Bible, but somehow you just couldn't quite believe He would do it in your case. Have you prayed for God to do a certain thing, but you really couldn't believe God would do what you asked? Quite often there is a big difference between our believing God can do something and believing He will do something.

The faith spoken of in the Bible is an attitude of complete trust and confidence. If your faith is wavering and you find yourself doubting that God will keep His promises, you may have slipped into the void between belief and unbelief. It just may be that you have forgotten that even our faith and ability to believe are gifts from God. In our passage, the father recognized a basic truth -- we all need God to help us overcome our unbelief.

Listen to what James says about unbelief when praying for wisdom. "When you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can't make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do" (James 1:6-8 NIV). Here, James makes the point that if we're asking anything from God we must believe He will give it to us. Your belief/faith must be solid and sure.

If your faith is weak and you have difficulty trusting your Lord in all things, you may have forgotten a basic tenet of our faith; that God can be trusted. Ask God to help you overcome you unbelief and lack of faith. In the same way God has shown His power throughout history, he will work in your life. But we must not waver -- we must truly believe that God will do even the impossible. Jesus said, "Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it" (Mark 11:24 NLT). This amazing statement presupposes that our prayers will be for God's will to be done, not ours. When we pray according to the will of the Father, He will answer.

Love, Jerry & Dotse