Scripture: "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straight-way the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou wine unbelief."—MARK ix. 23, 24.
What a glorious promise: "All things are possible to him that believeth"! And yet it is just the greatness of the promise that constitutes the trial of faith. At first we do not really believe its truth. But when we have grasped it, then comes the real trial in the thought: Such a wonder-working faith is utterly beyond my reach.
But what constitutes the trial of faith soon becomes its triumph. How can this be? When Christ said to the father of the child, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth," he felt that this was only casting him into deeper despair. How could his faith be able to work the miracle? But as he looked into the face of Christ, and the love of the tender eye touched his heart, he felt sure that this blessed Man not only had the power to heal his child, but the power too to inspire him with the needed faith. The impression Christ produced upon him made not only the one miracle of the healing possible, but the second miracle too that he should have so great a faith. And with tears he cried, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." The very greatness of faith's trial was the greatness of faith's triumph.
What a lesson! Of all things that are possible to faith, the most impossible is that I should be able to exercise such faith. The abiding presence of Christ is possible to faith. And this faith is possible to the soul that clings to Christ and trusts Him. As surely as He will lead us into His abiding presence all the day, so surely will He strengthen us with divine power for the faith that claims and receives the promise. Blessed the hour when the believer sees how entirely he is dependent on Christ for the faith as well as the blessing, and, in the consciousness of the unbelief that is still struggling within, he casts himself on the power and the love of Jesus: "Lord, I believe; Lord, I believe."
Through such trial and through such triumph, sometimes the triumph of despair, we enter upon our inheritance, the abiding presence of Him who speaks to us now: "Lo, I am with you alway." Let us tarry at His feet until we know that He has blessed us. "I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me" (Phil, iv. 13). R. V.
