Tuesday 29 August 2023

Matthew 17:14-23

¹⁴ When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶ I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

¹⁷ “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” ¹⁸ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” ²¹

²² When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. ²³ They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

When the disciples ask Jesus here “Why couldn’t we drive the demon out” they could very well be asking any number of questions that I have asked in prayer.

“Why didn’t they get healed?”  

“Why am I still struggling in this area?”

“Why are these people still being treated so unjustly”?

“Why did You allow this to happen, God?”

“Do you want me to act, or just trust You?”

God might answer my questions in a number of ways, but one thing that I am certain about is that He is more interested in my faith than my feelings. He wants to see me increase my trust in Him by declaring truth about Him. He wants me to see his hand at work by knowing that He is at work in all things, bringing them together for good.

Lord, increase our faith.

Written by Ps. Justin Ware