So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered.“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Mark 9:20-24

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The sounds of violence started shortly after our new neighbors moved in next door. I was in fifth grade. I had never experienced physical abuse, but I knew immediately that was what was going on. Adjacent apartments tend to have thin walls. And there was no mistaking when both my classmate and her mom were home. I could hear the screaming, the violence, the tears, and the empty promises that it would never happen again. But it did. Sadly, after many confrontations, 9-1-1 calls, reassuring interventions, and peaceful resolutions, my friend still had sunken eyes and bruised arms most of the time. It broke my heart the first time I saw her with a black eye when she arrived at school. Even now, as I think about kids in similar situations, two words come to mind: helpless and hopeless.

For anyone facing perpetual turmoil, it’s hard to believe things will ever be different. In today’s passage, the father and his demon-possessed son had never known anything other than debilitating evil when they first stepped close to Jesus. They, too, were stuck in the land of helpless and hopeless. Yes, the father took a gamble on supernatural help, but I’m sure his heart sank when the disciples’ healing efforts were unsuccessful (Mark 9:18). But then Jesus flipped the script. He received this downtrodden dad’s wishful request and challenged him to believe with certainty. He introduced a revolutionary idea and reality that this family only dreamed could be true. Jesus showed up convinced in His power to heal, and the father responded with conviction that certainty of help and hope was possible in partnership with God.

I don’t need to spell out the details, but my childhood neighbor eventually ended up in a much healthier situation. When I think about her and read about Jesus providing healing to a son and his father in Mark 9, I’m reminded that I don’t need to figure out why evil runs rampant in the world to believe unshakably that God can do the impossible. He cares for people in all kinds of need—physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, and more. Jesus invites us to call on Him and, like the young boy’s dad, to take one step closer to the certainty that Christ can and will save all who come to Him. When we don’t see radical change immediately, it may be difficult to know that help and hope are on the horizon. But that never means God is ignoring pain or incapable of doing more than we could ask or imagine.

Next Steps

• “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief” (v. 24) is a breath prayer that you and I can voice to God at any time, especially when things seem helpless and hopeless. 
• How has this year’s Celebration of Hope opened your eyes and hands to believe with certainty that God really can do the impossible?