O God! Help Our Unbelief!

Help Our Unbelief!

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. ²¹ And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² 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.” ²³ And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ 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.” ²⁶ 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.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. Mark 9.20-27

How’s our faith quotient?

Is anyone, reading these words, anxious? Doubtful? Afraid? Dreading? Scared to death? Well, join the club!

There is fear in the unknown!

Covid19 has us all a bit on the edge, to say the least. It is affecting every aspect of our living. And, that is downright scary. I have seen many crises in my 60+ years:

• 1956-58 The Asian Flu (2 million deaths worldwide; 69,000 in the USA)
• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1963 JFK’s assassination
• The 1967 7-Day Israeli war
• April 1968 Martin Luther King’s assassination
• June 1968 Bobby Kennedy’s assassination
• The 1973 oil crisis
• The economic crisis of the 70’s
• 1973 Roe vs. Wade (61,628,584 million babies, worldwide, have been murdered)
• The 1980’s AIDS plague (35 million people have died of AIDS, worldwide, since 1980)
• September 1982, the Tylenol poisoning crisis
• September 1985 earthquake in Mexico City killing 5,000+ people
• January 28, 1986 NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger explosion (killing all 7 crew members)
• October 19, 1987 Black Monday – the Global Financial Marketplace System crashed (500 billion dollars lost)
• July 1988 Mad Cow Disease in the UK (4.4 million cows were slaughtered)
• August 1992 Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida
• July 1995, Midwestern USA, a killing heat wave
• 1997-1999 The Bird Flu (killing 2-7 million people)
• 1999 the Columbine High School shooting, killing 13
• Y2K as the century turned (the headlines: End of the World, Armageddon, The Day the Earth Will Stand still)
• September 11, 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attack killing almost 3,000 people
• 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
• 2005 Avian Influenza pandemic
• 2007, mass shooting at Virginia Tech, killing 33 people
• 2008-9, a financial crash
• 2009 Swine Flu pandemic
• September 29, 2009 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean killing over 230,000 people
• 2012 the Sandy Hook School shooting, killing 27 people
• 2013 EBOLA bacteria (11,300 deaths)
• 2016 ZIKA virus (840,000 worldwide deaths)
• 2017-18 Flu season killed an estimated 80,000 Americans
• 2020 Corona Virus

Quite a list, eh?

Here’s what I know

This too shall pass. Do I believe that Jesus is about to step out onto the clouds? No, I don’t. NOT YET. And, I also think we are going to have a lot more opportunities to exercise, to stretch our faith and our trust quotient. But, for now, let’s just say, “We are all in this together.” And, we must encourage one another. We must pray for one another. And, by all means, regardless of any personal opinion OR political affiliation, we must PRAY for our leaders, our country, our world. This virus has not taken our sovereign God by surprise – He is on top of it and He is working on our behalf, for our good, and HIS GLORY. Because that is what God does and who He is.

Now, for the rest of the story…

Now, back to the Dad and his possessed son – what lessons are there in that account we can learn?

1. Do not allow other’s lack of faith, doubt, or inability to weaken our faith.
2. Are my/your desires in accord with God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will?
3. When my/your faith is shaken and we realize the situation is totally out of our hands – we need to ask Jesus to remove all the doubt and to give us unquestioning faith. HELP OUR UNBELIEF!

***I want to give a big shout out to my sister, Peggy, who looked up all the crises as I typed!!! THANK YOU, SESTRA!

You can follow Peggy’s encouragement and inspiration on Facebook, BROKEN TEA CUPS!