4 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." 17And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." 18And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
The disciples just asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the demon, and He tells them it's because of their little faith! Again, I am flabbergasted by the fact that the disciples see Jesus, all that He does, and the miracles He performs, and they STILL lack faith! How can that be? I don't know for sure, but would you allow me to give a few wonderings?
I wonder if they are battling the thought that some of the miracles are just coincidences? Do we do that? Someone is healed from a illness or it progresses healing quicker than expected and we think, well, that's just coincidence. Remember that James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father..." Whatever good is happening in your life is not a coincidence, my friend. It's a GIFT from your Lord! Believe that! Don't allow satan to trick you into believing it was just a coincidence!
I also wonder if they have a hard time trusting in Jesus because they know Him so well. Let me expand. I sometimes wonder if our evangelical church has swung the pendulum too far the other direction. Not too long ago, our nation revered God's majesty to the point where they lost all personal relationship with God. But now, I wonder if the Church has become such close "friends" with God that we have lost sight of how powerful and majestic He really is! Much like as a teacher, you can't be "friends" with your students or a parent can't be "friends" with their child because the lines of authority become blurred. Yes, God loves you so much and desires a personal relationship with you, but He also wants you to remember Who He is in His entirety. He's not just your buddy -- He's SO much more than that! When we fail to recognize this, we fail to believe what He can really do, and we lack faith. Remember you God:
23 For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.” Joshua 4:23-24
Nothing is impossible in our lives because of the God we serve! We must have faith. Not in anything that WE can do, but fully and completely in what God can do. Your God is the same God that raised Jesus from the dead! No other god or person has or ever will do that! So, let me assure you, your current circumstance is not the one exception that God can't resolve. You do not have the one situation that God cannot change!
Pray to your God, the One who raised Jesus from the grave, the One who parted the Red Sea, the One who heals your diseases, the One who restores your broken marriage, the One who calls your wayward child home, the One who has chosen to leave the comfort of Heaven to come to Earth and die for you so that you might know Him and be saved. That is your God, dear one. Ask Him to give you the faith you need, and He will do it.
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