Help my unbelief!

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’

Mark 9:24

There are days when belief comes easily and we feel bold in our faith But there are also days when belief gives way and hope is abandoned. When our hearts, broken, once open to miracles, grow wary.

In Mark 9, a father brings his child who is suffering to Jesus. He’s desperate. He’s already tried. The disciples couldn’t heal his son. Yet again he comes. And when Jesus says, “Everything is possible for one who believes,” the man’s cry is one common to so many of us:

“I believe; help my unbelief!”

It’s not either-or. He believe and he also doubts. This is what faith looks like when your heart is tired and hurting. When the prayer is still unanswered, the breakthrough not seen. When your soul wants to say, “What’s the point?”

But Jesus responds to the man’s cry, not with rebuke, but with healing.

When we’ve seen too much failure or felt too much pain our faith may falter. It’s not that we stop believing in God – but we stop believing He’ll move for us. We put limits on the miraculous. We shrink our prayers to match our disappointments to protect our hearts.

But Jesus shows us through the father with his child that the conflicted and doubting heart is still heard by Him. Is still precious to Him.

God doesn’t need perfect belief. That is not a prerequisite for healing. He honours the honest cry, “Lord, help my unbelief.”

So if when our heart is doubting and our faith feels fragile —if miracles feel far away— God is still listening.

He is still moving.

Even now.