Blogging Through the Gospels: Mark 9

SO EXCITED!  If you are reading and blogging along with Amy at Mom's Toolbox, then my words for today might look familiar to you.  I am blessed and humbled to share my thoughts (which... NO surprise here... over a week ago when I prepared them, it was of course EXACTLY what I needed to hear for that day) with everyone!

Reading: Mark 9

Scripture:  Mark 9 :21 - 24

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “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.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”


24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Observation:

This poor man has watched his son be possessed by a demon, or "impure spirit," as the NIV calls it, since his childhood.  I imagine, like any parent desperate to help a hurting child, that he tried many different avenues for help.  When he had heard about Jesus, and that the men who were his disciples, performing miracles, and healing people day after day, I wonder if he was afraid to hope, but even more afraid not to try?

When the disciples were unable to cast out the spirit, the poor man must have seen the final possibility and hope of a cure slipping away.

In humility, and possibly desperation, he asks, "if you can do anything, please take pity on us and help us."

I imagine at Jesus' next words, the man's posture completely changing, and hope coming back with full force.

"I do believe!  Help me overcome my unbelief!"


Application:

My God wants me to trust Him with everything, and FOR everything.

It's not:

"Lord, if you can provide-"

or

"Lord, if you could help me-"

I need to believe Him with absolute confidence and certainty that He loves me intimately, carefully and watchfully-- even though He is the God of this universe of billions of people.  I don't need to understand how He can be all things to all people, I just need to actively make Him my ALL in ALL.

As a woman in a very self-sufficient day and age, I learned quickly to solve my own problems.  I need to remember that in every area that I have completely trusted my God, He has never failed me.  But there are some areas that are quite a bit more scary to let go of.... especially in those last few days before the next paycheck.  Today my God is telling me:

"If I can provide?"

So I surrender.
I do believe.
Forgive my unbelief.

Prayer:


My Gracious God,
You are so patient with me.
I know that I am going to look back and feel so foolish for the little pockets of fear and worry that I have clung to for so long.  I know in my head that you love me more than I could imagine.  Help me to feel it in my heart, and let it seep into every corner or my mind, and into every pocket of fear and worry that I hold.  Help me to let go.

I do believe.
Forgive my unbelief.

Amen.