Kerry Shook - Help My Unbelief
Hey, we just started a new series that's all about a two-word prayer. Now, it's not a very impressive prayer. It's not a very intellectual prayer. It's so simple, it doesn't sound like a very spiritual prayer. I mean, when you pray this two-word prayer, no one's going to say, "That's the deepest, most beautiful prayer I've ever heard". You must be so spiritual. But this two-word prayer brings all of heaven to the rescue. It's one of the most powerful prayers you could ever pray, and the prayer is, "God, help"! It's a prayer that gets God's attention because it means that you're in a situation that's caused you to realize the situation you're in all the time, that your true condition is you're completely dependent upon God.
We're utterly dependent upon God at all times. We're dependent on God for our next breath, but it's in that place of desperation where you've tried everything else, and you realize how powerless you are to fix your situation. It's in the place at the end of your rope when no matter how hard you try, you can't hold on any longer, and that's when you come face to face with the reality that he's God, and you're not. And you finally wake up to the fact that you desperately need God's help all the time. I want us to look at a man in the New Testament, who was desperate for Jesus' help. He was at the end of his rope, and Jesus was his last chance.
The man was bringing his son to Jesus, because the boy was possessed by an evil spirit that was trying to destroy him. The demon would throw the boy into the fire or into the water, and the father was just crushed, watching his son go through all this pain. And this dad was a loving father who was doing everything he could to get his son the help that he needed, and nothing had worked. He had hit dead end after dead end. In fact, we'll pick up the story right after this father brings his son to the disciples and asked them if they could do something about it. They try, and they can't do anything. But finally, after all the disappointments, after all the letdowns, after all the wrong turns, desperately trying to find the answer, he arrives at the feet of Jesus.
And when you're broken, worn out, at the end of your hope, there's no better place to wind up than at the feet of Jesus, God's one and only Son and our one and only hope. Now just think about the journey they'd been on, all the wrong turns, all the dead ends, all the hope-filled roads that led up the mountaintop, only to drop right down into a valley of despair. All the detours, all the painful paths, all the winding and broken roads that they had traveled led them right to the feet of Jesus. It's never the straight and smooth path that leads us to the feet of Jesus. It's always the winding and broken road that finally brings us to the feet of the Savior.
Someone needed to hear that today, because the road that you're having to walk right now is so painful, you can barely take another step, and you think that you can't make it through, and everything in you wants to go back to where you were walking a really smooth and straight road, but you can't go back. Just know this. You're on the only road that can lead you to the feet of the Savior. Because it's only the broken and painful roads. Sometimes the road winds around, and it seems like it's purposeless. It seems like that it's not leading you anywhere. It's a rocky road. It's a painful road. But that road is leading you to the feet of Jesus, and that's when your road of hurt collides with the hope of heaven. It's the broken road you're on right now that brings you face to face with your only hope.
So, I want you to open your Bibles to Mark chapter 9, and we're going to see that right after this man took his son to the disciples and couldn't find the answer there, that he ends up at the feet of Jesus. So, would you stand in honor of God's Word and follow along with me? "So they brought him to Him. When the spirit saw Him, it immediately convulsed the boy. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 'How long has this been happening to him?' Jesus asked his father. 'From childhood,' he said. 'And many times it has thrown him into the fire or water to destroy him. But if you could do anything, have compassion on us and help us.' Then Jesus said to him, 'If you can? Everything is possible for the one who believes.' Immediately, the father of the boy cried out, 'I do believe. Help my unbelief.'"
You can be seated. I love this father. You see, he arrives at Jesus' feet, and he has faith that Jesus has the power to heal his son. And yet, he was struggling with this. He believed that Jesus could really make all the difference, and yet his mind was flooded with doubt. For, you see, he had had so many times where his hopes had been dashed. Over the years, he had had all the confidence and hope beat out of him, and so he was at the place where he believed Jesus could do it, but yet his heart was also filled with doubt. And I think he probably struggled with risking his heart again. 'Cause there's so many times that he put his heart out there and trusted that this was going to be the answer, only to have his heart crushed.
And so he was hesitant to put his heart out again. And like, yeah, this is gonna be it. I believe totally in you, Jesus. Because he knew the pain of what it felt like to put his heart out there and have it totally obliterated. And that's where he was. There was some faith left in him, but it wasn't much. It was weak and imperfect, and it was almost gone. But he mustered up just a little bit of imperfect faith and somehow and someway he took that little bit of imperfect faith that he had left to go collapse at the feet of Jesus, and he prayed a prayer that has been prayed by countless believers ever since. "I believe. Help my unbelief".
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Have you prayed that prayer? You know, I prayed it many times, where I believe and yet I also have doubts that bombard me. I believe. Help my unbelief. And Jesus, he answered that prayer, because that's a prayer that gets God's attention, because it's a very honest prayer. He wasn't trying to fake it at all. He was just saying, "Yeah, I really do believe in you, and yet there have been so many times where my confidence and hope has been beaten out of me through the years. And I believe. Help my unbelief".
You see, God loves that prayer, because it means that we take the little bit of faith we have, and we place it all on him, and we're being really honest about it, that we don't have a whole lot of faith. For, you see, every believer throughout history with great faith has also had their doubts, from doubting Thomas to Mother Teresa. Even John the Baptist, at the end of his life, in prison, waiting to be executed, started having some doubts. He started having some doubts that Jesus really was the Messiah, that he had lived his whole life, not a comfortable life, but he had lived his whole life and ended up in prison because he believed in Jesus with all of his heart, and he was following God with his whole heart, and yet he was waiting to be executed for following God with his whole heart. And he started wondering.
A few little doubts crept in. Is Jesus really the Messiah? John was thinking, "Did I waste my life? I could've lived a comfortable life. Did I waste my life"? And even John the Baptist started having doubts, and so he sent some of his followers to hang out with Jesus for a little bit. And Jesus turned to them after they'd been spending some time with them, and he said, "Go back and tell John", In Matthew 11:4-6, Jesus told them, "Go back and tell John what's going on. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side. Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed"!
Jesus didn't get mad at John the Baptist. Jesus didn't get upset with him or criticize him because of his doubts. Jesus didn't say, "Dude, get your act together. You're John the Baptist. I mean, you're my greatest follower. You came before me to proclaim that I was coming. I mean, if you doubt, I mean, it's gonna give me a bad name. If you doubt, everyone else's faith is gonna crumble". No, Jesus just encouraged him. He quoted a prophecy from the Old Testament that said when the Messiah comes, he's gonna make blind eyes see. He's gonna make the lame walk. He's gonna raise the dead. He's gonna preach good news to the poor.
And so he encouraged him, and the followers of John had seen Jesus do those very things, and Jesus said, "You're blessed because you believed. You lived your life in belief". And John was encouraged, and Jesus encourages us in our doubts. He doesn't get mad at you when you have a bout with doubt. This father laid all his doubts at the feet of Jesus, and there's no better place to lay your doubts than at the feet of Jesus. I really believe you can't have a solid faith unless you have some doubts, because you're choosing, I'm gonna choose faith instead of these doubts I'm having. I'm gonna act on this faith in Jesus rather than these doubts that are coming into my mind.
And so you begin to choose real faith, and your faith grows and becomes solid because of the doubts. And so there's no better place to lay your doubts than the feet of Jesus. His father brought all of his doubts, all of his belief, the little bit of faith he had, and he brought it right to the feet of Jesus. There's no better place to lay your doubts, to put your anger, to bring your questions, and all of your frustrations, and all of your doubts than the feet of Jesus Christ. Look at Mark 9:19. Jesus said, "Bring the boy to me". That's so significant, because Jesus was telling the father, "Bring to me what no one else can handle. Bring to me what no one else can do".
No one else could heal this boy. He said, "Bring to me this boy. Bring to me what no one else can deal with". He was saying, "Bring to me all your questions. Bring to me your doubts. Bring to me your anger, and frustrations, bring to me all those questions of 'Why, God, would you allow this?' Bring it all to me. I can handle it. Bring it on," Jesus is saying. And that's what he says to you today. Pour out your anger. Pour out your hurt. Pour out your pain. Pour out your doubts. Pour out your frustrations and all your questions. Jesus wants you to. He says, "Bring it on". And like Job, he finally broke down and just let God have it. For all the pain that he was allowing in his life, God just listened with compassion.
Well, I want us to look at Mark 9:22. It says, "Well, the father says to Jesus, 'Have compassion on us and help us.'" And so it's "God, help us". Notice he didn't say, "God, help him, help my son". He needs help. He said, "God, help us". It wasn't a he thing. It was an us thing, because he was hurting just as much or even more than his son was. Seeing his son go through all that pain and all that torment just crushed him. And for those of you who are parents, you know that when you see your kids go through hurt, nothing hurts you more. And everything in you wants to take away the pain. And when you can't, it hurts you so deeply. He said us because I'm hurting, my son's hurting, and I'm hurting because my son's hurting.
And no matter how much we believe in Christ's power to do something about it, we can't help but doubt, in those times, the goodness of God, because we don't see the goodness of God. When someone we love is hurting so deeply, and we can't do anything about it, and we want to take it away, it seems so unfair, that's when we begin to doubt God's goodness, that God is good, that he knows what he's doing, because we think, "How, God, could you allow it"? And it's in those times that I have to pray, "God, I believe. Help my unbelief". God, I don't see your goodness. I don't understand what you're up to. But, God, I believe.
Please help my unbelief, and I cling to the promise in Romans 8:28, and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. So, I have to say, when I can't see why God has allowed something painful in my life or in the life of someone I love, I have to pray, "God, I believe this promise. Help my unbelief". God, I believe that you're gonna take all this bad and all this awful, and you're going to somehow bring good out of it for your glory and my good? But I can't see it right now. So, God, I believe. Help my unbelief. I know this promise is true, but help my unbelief.
And then I hear the whisper of Romans 8:28, this promise, that there is a purpose in my pain, and that makes all the difference. I hear this promise getting louder and louder in my heart, that there's a purpose in my pain. And somehow God can take this painful situation that makes no sense and just like the crucifixion, the worst moment in all of human history, he took it and made it the greatest moment for all of us, and he can take your pain, and he has a purpose in it, though we cannot see it, and he can bring something glorious out of it.
Now, in Romans 8:28, it doesn't say that everything is good. It says that God takes all of the bad, and the ugly, and all of the happy times, and all of the hardest times, all of the best things, all the awful things, and somehow puts them all together to bring good out of it. That God, can bring good out of every situation. You see, I have to pray, though, "God, I believe. Help my unbelief". It means that I take a little bit of imperfect faith to God, and I say, "God, I believe. Help my unbelief". And somehow he turns that prayer into a glorious prayer that brings all heaven to the rescue, and he works powerful miracles in that moment. I want us to look at two verses before Romans 8:28, which may be an even more powerful verse than Romans 8:28.
It's Romans 8:26. It says, "Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our worthless sighs, and aching groans". He's saying when all you can do is cry out to God, or cry, that the Holy Spirit of God takes those tears and turns them into words, and it's a powerful prayer that God the Father, that brings all heaven to the rescue, and sometimes we don't know what to pray. But if we'll just look to God and say, "God, I believe, help my unbelief," if we pour out our heart to God, maybe we just cry to God, the Holy Spirit turns those tears into prayers. He takes our words that may be even words of anger and frustration, and he takes them and turns them into powerful prayer to God, exactly what we need.
Even when you don't know what you need, and you just call out to God, the Holy Spirit of God, if you're a Christ follower, will take that and turn it into a beautiful prayer of exactly what you need from God, and God will answer that prayer. I love Romans 8:26. But notice the father didn't ask Jesus, "Why have you allowed this? Jesus, why has your heavenly Father allowed my boy to be tormented this way? This makes no sense. He didn't deserve it. Why"? He doesn't ask that question, "Why"? He just comes right to Jesus' feet, and he says, "I believe. Help my unbelief". He doesn't ask the question, "Why"?
Now maybe he asked it a lot leading up to this, but here he doesn't ask the question "Why"? And that's usually the question we ask when we're going through pain. "God, why did you allow this? Why, why, why"? And God rarely answers that question. He rarely answers the question, "Why"? I think one reason is because it wouldn't really help us when we're going through pain. If he told us all the answers, those answers don't really do a whole lot for us. It's his presence that brings us comfort. All the answers don't get us through another day. It's his presence that carries us through another day. The other reason I think he doesn't always tell us why is because we couldn't comprehend it in our finite minds.
We couldn't totally fathom it, because God has an eternal perspective, and he knows, and we don't. And if he told us why, we may not even be able to comprehend the why, at least on this earth. And so, asking why is something we all do when we're going through pain, but the better question is "What"? Not "Why God"? but "What God"? What are you trying to teach me in this pain. C.S. Lewis said pain is the greatest teacher. And maybe God is trying to teach you to depend on him more. Maybe God is trying to teach me that I need him so desperately, so I need to come to him constantly with my tears, and with my hurt and pain. I need to come to him, and I'll find that he's reliable, that he is the mountain that is unmovable. I need to learn so many things through the pain.
But then I want to ask, "Where is the pain leading me"? Because the pain, many times points us in a different direction. And that's why I know someone here needs Isaiah 43:19, this promise of God, because you're in the middle of pain right now. You're in the middle of the desert, but God is redirecting you while you're in the desert. God is pointing you in a new direction during this pain. God says, "See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland".
When you're in a wilderness of pain, it's really hard to see what God is up to. But God says, "If you're in the wilderness of pain today, I'm getting ready to do something new. I'm doing a new thing in your life. I'm redirecting you. You're in the desert, but I'm redirecting you to my oasis of fulfillment". And so you want to ask, "Where's this pain leading me"? Because pain redirects us. It never leaves us where it finds us. And many times, pain positions us for our ultimate purpose in life, because God never wastes the pain. There's always a purpose in it, if you're a Christ follower.
Remember Joseph? Of course you do. Joseph had a dream that he would be really this great leader that would help his whole family and save his family from famine. And so he told his brothers the dream, and they couldn't stand him. They were so jealous, they threw him in a pit, and then they sold him to slave traders in Egypt, and there in Egypt he began to be a slave for a guy named Potiphar. And through his integrity, Potiphar noticed how much, how honest he was, and he raised him up to be head of his household, and then Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph, and Joseph did exactly what God told him to do.
He ran from it, and she was so angry that she accused Joseph of attacking her, and so he was thrown in prison, falsely accused, left to rot in a prison cell, but then he interpreted a dream of someone in the prison, and that person got out of prison and worked for Pharaoh, and Pharaoh had a disturbing dream, and that person said, "Hey there's a guy in prison that can interpret dreams". So, Pharaoh brought Joseph in, and Joseph said, "Your dream, Pharaoh, means there's going to be a huge famine in the land, and you'd better prepare for it".
So, Pharaoh appoints Joseph as second in command in all of Egypt. He becomes Prince of Egypt. He goes from prison to prince. That's an amazing thing, because all along the way, that winding and broken road that Joseph took that was so painful, God used the pain to position him for his purpose. And God uses our pain to propel us into our purpose, move us out of our comfort zone. And all along the way, I believe Joseph clung to that dream. They stole his coat, but they couldn't steal the dream, and he believed in that dream that God had given him. He may have prayed, "God, I believe. Help my unbelief. I'm rotting away in a prison cell, but that prison cell was just the place before becoming prince".
And God is using your pain to position you for your purpose. That's the way our God works. And then Joseph's brothers came back to him, because they needed food, and they came to the prince of Egypt. They didn't recognize Joseph, but he recognized them. And when he revealed himself to them, they were terrified. They said, "Joseph's gonna take his revenge. We're dead". And Joseph said, "No, I forgave you years ago. I didn't want bitterness to keep me from purpose. I forgave you years ago".
And then he says this in Genesis 50:20. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives". He said, "You intended to harm me, and I'm not gonna deny it. I'm gonna be honest with you. You intended to hurt me deeply, but God intended it for my good. God took all of the pain that you inflicted on me. And he turned around into my purpose. You sent me on a broken and painful road that just kept winding around and around, but that road led to my purpose, and that was God using you. You intended to hurt me, but God took that intent, and he turned it into his purpose". And God can take your broken road that's winding around and seems like there's no purpose in it, but he's taking you right to your purpose.