“He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto Me.” (Mark 9:19)
We know this incident. The disciples couldn’t deliver the boy from the unclean spirit. “And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto Thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to Thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.” (Mark 9:17-18) There is much discussion about this Scripture. In Matthew’s account when the disciples ask Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the unclean spirit, Jesus says because of their unbelief. “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:19-21) In Mark’s account, Jesus tells the father about having faith. “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:23-24) When the disciples ask Him of their inability to cast the unclean spirit out, there is a slight different answer. “And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:28-29) Their account is similar, but the slight differences cause us to question whether Jesus was calling the disciples or the father faithless. Most commentators say that Jesus was talking to His disciples. But when Jesus declared in Mark 9:19 the whole generation faithless, this included the disciples. Jesus was speaking to both the father and the disciples.
Jesus speaks to us also. Our words and actions betray us. We believe God’s Word mentally, but when push comes to shove, what we say and do in the time of crisis and difficulties reveals what we really believe. Let’s just look at one difficulty, sickness. This area is the hardest area in which to have faith because of the evidence of sickness and because of the way sickness makes us feel. We have the promise of healing. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Peter 2:24) Notice that the Scripture says were. It’s already been done. When the Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, he did not say the word were but are. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) Isaiah prophesied that when Jesus receives those stripes, there would be healing. While Peter on the other hand, after Jesus had received those stripes declared, we were healed. It’s a difficult thing to believe when there is pain and when there is an inability to carry on with our normal lives. But we have to say and act differently, and a simple little word can change the present difficulty to faith. The word is “but.” We can say that we hurt, “but...” We can declare that by Jesus’ stripes we were healed. God declared it done. "His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It’s done in heaven. Our prayer should declare that we receive it and believe it like we believe on our salvation.
Jesus was frustrated with the unbelief in those days. But there is unbelief today. We go from doctor to doctor. Praise God for doctors, medicine and the medical technology that heal many. But we also have a God that has provided healing for us if we believe. Jesus invites us to do it today, “... bring him unto Me.” Jesus is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our Healer. Faith moves God. If we believe that Jesus healed and will heal today, that is faith enough to go to Him and allow Him to heal us.
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