Sometimes we face relentless hardships. This may cause us to doubt ourselves and even God. The temptation to give up on God and just become a Christian Atheist becomes a viable option when we never thought it could be.
Perhaps this hardship has contaminated our perspective? I found myself in this place and then I came across a treat in Mark 9:14-29, that speaks to this thought process.
This passage records Jesus healing a demon-possessed boy. In the preface to this passage, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a mountain top and showed them the fullness of His Deity (transfiguration). They are coming back to the other disciples when this passage begins.
14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”20 Then they brought
him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
Now, the treats I found from this passage:o)
The crowd consisted of the disciples, the scribes (religious teachers), and other people, they witnessed every moment. The crowd represents people in our lives in close proximity i.e parents, friends, coworkers, peers. The father of the boy represents us with our seemingly hopeless situations. The boy represents our situation, hardship, trial.
Jesus asks the father “how long has this been happening to him?”. Since Jesus is God in the flesh, that makes him omnicient=all knowing. He knew this already, so why ask? The father divulging this information demonstrated his humility in his request for Jesus to help his son. The author does not tell us that the crowd left the pair to have this conversation privately; I feel it safe to believe they heard this conversation. This demon possession has been going on practically his whole life without reprieve. Upon hearing this, one could assume it was impossible for the boy to be healed and live a normal life. Moving on.
Now, after the father has answered Jesus’ question and asked for help, Jesus gives him some food for thought in verse 23: “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Remember, the crowd is hearing this as well. Moving on.
The father IMMEDIATELY cries out with full on tears to Jesus that “he believes, but help his unbelief”. The fact that his immediate response was to cry out to Jesus says to me that his heart was pure in this request. He wasn’t there to put on a show for the crowd. This part also shows the father’s vulnerability and honesty. He believed, but he also had some skepticism. God loves our honesty and vulnerability; it cultivates intimacy with Him. Scripture says that His strength is made perfect in our weakness 2 Corinthians 12:9. The father’s confession of desperation and limitation in his ability to get his son healed gave Jesus room to do the miraculous in his life. Moving on.
I noticed that after the father cries out to Jesus to help his unbelief, Jesus DOES NOT cast the demon out IMMEDIATELY as I expected him to. He waited. After all, the demon recognized Jesus IMMEDIATELY, the father cried out IMMEDIATELY after Jesus told him all things are possible if he believed, the crowd ran to Jesus IMMEDIATELY when they saw him. All the IMMEDIATLEY’s in this passage happen on behalf of God’s children and the actual demon, not Jesus. Jesus did nothing IMMEDIATELY in this particularly pressing, life-threatening, demon-possessed situation. It feels like that in our lives sometimes doesn’t it? As if Jesus is laxed in rescuing us from the storms of our lives. Thankfully, that’s not so:O) His ways and thoughts are not like ours, Isaiah 55:8-9.
Jesus still hadn’t cast the demon out. When He SAW the people running together towards Him, THEN He cast the demon out of the boy, and it made a grand exit convulsing the boy violently one last time.
Now, the boy is motionless and lifeless. The author doesn’t tell us how much time elapsed during this period. One could infer that it was a long time because the scripture tells us that many in the crowd said: “He’s dead.” 
The father, the disciples that failed to cast this demon out, scribes, other people, and the three disciples that saw Jesus transfigured witnessed Jesus casting the demon out, but the boy looks dead. Very dead.
The individuals that made the comments that the boy is dead was heard by the father. He saw his son be tormented by the demon his whole little life, now he mustered up some faith and asked Jesus to heal his son, yet he sees his son lifeless. I could imagine how disappointment could have set in.
The part I want to highlight is that they came running. Wait a minute, wasn’t the crowd already there? Perhaps, someone left the crowd to gather more people because this is a “Worldstar” worthy moment; At least to me, it sounds like something I would run to witness. Jesus WAITED until He saw the people running toward him BEFORE He cast the demon out. Could it be that Jesus wanted to use this “dead” boy to show His Glory to the crowd, to as many people that would come? Watch this.
After many individuals of the crowd said that the boy was dead, Jesus grabbed the boys hand, lifted him up, and the boy arose. The first two actions Jesus did for the boy, and the last action, the boy did for himself. (Let me run a lap real quick. lol) 
I’ve read this passage many times and missed this part until now. I also have no clue when the boy stopped being lifeless either! The text doesn’t tell us at what point the boy showed signs of life. If he had signs of life, Jesus could have called the boy to stand up, but He didn’t. The “how” seems to be left out often with the miraculous moves of our Lord.
Let’s bring it home.
God takes us by our hand and lifts us up and out from our hardships, negative mindsets, mistakes, etc. He lifts us above our seemingly impossible hardships and we rise atop them with the strength and power of our Savior. After all, He did say that His strength was made perfect in our weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10.
The crowd, the boy, his father, the disciples all took something different from this moment. All left this moment upgraded because they witnessed the physical manifestation of God’s glory, His power at work, tangible evidence that He is real.
A lasting thought from my experience with a “dead” situation. All things work together for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose Romans 8:28. Jesus specializes in dead things. Lazarus was dead for 4 whole days. This boy “appeared” dead. The widow’s son that was about to be buried in the coffin was dead, Luke 7: 11-17. Shoot, Jesus Himself died for 3 whole days. The best part about all of these dead things is that they arose at His command. These dead people rose when He spoke and commanded that they rise. He used His mouth. When it came to His resurrection, He foretold many times that He would rise on the third day. Due to Jesus’ resurrection, we have the power of the Holy Spirit; the same Spirit Jesus performed His miracles with. We have the power to speak to our “dead” situations. The power of life and death are in the tongue, Proverbs 18:21.
Currently, one dead thing came to life and that is my own belief that God can do the impossible. I was like those who called the boy dead. Pure skepticism that He could do the impossible. I still have my moments where I oscillate between belief and unbelief, but I’m progressing nonetheless.
Lord willing I will continue to post my faith journey as God continues to do the impossible in my life. This passage just hit me in my chest and I had to share what He showed me in this passage. Stay encouraged y’all, the joy of the Lord is our strength, Nehemiah 8:10.
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