Not If, But When Jesus Heals

Not If, But When Jesus Heals

“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24

If is one of the biggest little words I know. So much can ride on a question that begins with this tiny word.

What would happen if you ate this or that food or if you exercised more? Maybe you’ve asked if questions about your disease. You want to know if one drug is better than another or if you should try surgery.

Medical professionals aren’t exempt from asking if questions of their own. We wonder if our patients would be more compliant if we prescribed drugs to be taken once a day rather than four times a day. We wonder if more education will help our diabetic patients keep their sugars under control or if our obese patients would lose weight if they consulted a nutritionist.

But the saddest if questions we ask are the what if questions. What if our patient hadn’t smoked a pack of cigarettes every day for twenty years? What if the woman with ovarian cancer had gone to the doctor sooner? What if the patient had properly cared for the wound on his foot?

We could take the what if questions all the way back to the first couple in the Garden of Eden.

“What if Adam and Eve had not eaten the forbidden fruit? Would we still have sickness and disease?” But for all these what if questions, we will never have an answer this side of the veil.

In today’s verse, Jesus tests the man’s faith by repeating back to him his question: “If I can?” The father replies with perhaps the most honest answer ever. “I believe, but I need help for those time when it’s hard.”

As a doctor, I know that a treatment is more likely to work if the patient believes it will. I suspect the same is true with our faith. The more we believe, the more we see Jesus’ healing works in our lives and in the lives of others. But we’re not stuck with a lack of faith. If we’re honest with Jesus, even about our unbelief, he can bolster our faith in an instant and heal our diseases.

TODAY’S RX

Cry out to God for help in overcoming your unbelief. He is faithful and able.

Lord, in my most desperate and trying moments, when the world has me down and all options have failed, please help me to overcome my unbelief. I know you are able, and I trust you for complete restoration and healing.