unbelief (noun): absence of faith
How many times in church do we hear stories of extraordinary faith, how many examples do we see in the Bible? How many times do we ourselves display faith, and how many times do we not display faith... How many times does unbelief rear its ugly head?
At 28 years old, I don't have it all figured out but I trust and serve a living God, an unchanging God, who knows my beginning from my end. He knew me before I was formed in my mother's womb and He made plans of good, not of evil, for me. When I say this to myself, I smile because I have nothing to worry about so why then do I worry?
In Mark 9: 14 - 24, we get to see an extraordinary story of a man who experienced this very thing called unbelief. He throws himself at the feet of Jesus and tells Jesus of his plight, and tells Jesus to have compassion. Jesus's answer was simple: "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."
Now at this point, in our lives, when we go to Jesus with out requests, He says the same thing to us and we assure ourselves that we do in fact believe. And this isn't wrong at all because we do believe! Why wouldn't we? But what is that niggle in the back that we sometimes get?
In verse 24, the father replies and says "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" How is it possible for belief and unbelief to co-exist in the same place? I know I have rebuked unbelief on several occasions when I have faced difficult situations because I do believe. Then I feel guilty because I cannot get over the fact that there is also, sometimes, an element of unbelief in there. But God is faithful and will always help us with unbelief, if we can recognise it.
It doesn't seem like a 'good Christian' thing to do does it? Admitting unbelief. But when Peter came out on the water, he too experienced unbelief and started to drown. There are places that God takes us sometimes that will push us of our comfort zone but that is the whole point! That's where growth takes place and that's where our miracle lies.
Today, I charge you (& me) to rebuke any unbelief and charge forward in the hope of Christ.
Comments