Help Me, Lord!
The following is a lightly-edited transcript of a sermon titled “Help Me, Lord!” from Mark 9:14-29, preached on 2021.10.07 to the junior high students of Lighthouse Community Church in Torrance, CA.
What’s the hardest thing in your life right now? Church strife, family enmity, work stress, loneliness, injury, sickness, relational discord, bitterness, ugliness, hopelessness? The Bible has much to say about such everyday issues. But in this post, I want to speak directly to how God responds to us in our suffering, and how He desires us to respond to suffering.
If life feels like a constant journey of pain and strife, this post is for you. I want you to hear the encouragement that God has for the weak and wandering, for sufferers and sinners. I want you to see the hope that there is in God, for He is power and He is love.
If you have friends who are weighed down by life-dominating issues, this post is also for you. I want you to have something real, biblical truth, counsel of compassion, to give to them. I want you to be confident that God is the answer to every pain.
I. Help, I’m Suffering! (9:14-22)
In Mark 9:14-22, the evangelist shows us a demon-possessed boy. Listen to what his father says about him: “My son has a spirit that makes him mute [unable to talk]. And whenever the spirit seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid [paralyzed]. This has happened since childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him.”
Imagine if this boy was your little brother. For his entire life, he has never said anything you— to anyone. Other kids complain about their siblings annoying them with ridiculous songs and mean words. But you’d give anything just to hear your brother say, “Hi.” Ever since he was young, he would have these demonic attacks. Without warning, he would throw himself on the floor like a madman, writhe with all his strength, foam at the mouth like an animal, pound his teeth together in pain. You, your parents, your siblings, could do nothing to help him.
Sometimes he would throw himself into the fire of the fireplace. Sometimes he would intentionally burn his body on the stove. He was never safe near water. At the beach or the pool, he would feverishly, ferociously try to drown himself.
See the scars and burns marks all over his body! Feel the fear that would haunt your life! Hear the sobbing of your poor parents! The demoniac boy was a raving, suicidal terror. What would you do? What could you do?
This demoniac’s suffering was intense. But you don’t have to be possessed by a demon to suffer. I’m very confident none of you have a demon, and yet we are suffering. Again, what’s the hardest thing you’re going through?
Body Image
Some of us suffer from an ungodly perspective of our bodies. If this is you, every time you go on social media, every time you go into public, you feel ugly—either too skinny or too fat, or too tall or too short, too plain or too, well, too you. You are driven to always look your best, to test that new makeup, to buy that new dress, to try that new hairstyle. You’re desperate to be told that you’re beautiful, that you matter, that you are cherished and loved.
Sexual Identity
Others of us suffer from ungodly attractions. If this is you, you’re attracted to someone that is forbidden, and you start to feel like a prisoner in your own body. You feel like no one understands, that there is no hope of acceptance or peace, and as you consider the challenges of battling such a temptation, it seems hopeless. Where will you find love? Where will you find acceptance?
Media Addiction
Some of us suffer from being addicted to screens. If this is you, you are a slave to your devices. When you’re not staring at a screen, you’re thinking about the next time you can stare at a screen, maybe even right now, during this sermon. You plan your life around when you can play, watch, stream, binge. You enjoy the digital world more than the real world, and even escape to that fake world to escape the real world. But it doesn’t really satisfy; you always want more.
Doubt
Others of us here suffer from doubts about the Christian faith. If this is you, at school you’re learning about all these religions—Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoist, Hinduism, Islam, Catholicism, Christianity—and you’re wondering, “Who is right? How can I be sure that Christianity isn’t just a clever lie, a complex deception? What is true? You’re afraid to ask your parents because they might get mad, but also feel like you can’t ask at church, because you don’t want to disappoint people. So you feel suffocated by your questions, and yet have no hope of getting out.
Relational Strife
Others of us, probably all of us here, suffer from difficult relationships. You get into yelling matches with your mom, maybe even tonight, right before youth group. You and your sibling are constantly under each other’s skin: one moment friends, another moment enemies. That one friend in your group is talking behind your back, and you just want it to stop. So you feel angry, trapped, wronged, unloved.
——
Loneliness and shame, isolation and self-hatred, addictions and lusts, doubts and fears—suffering, suffering, suffering—these are the thorns of a world, our world, cursed by sin.
So what will we do? Running away doesn’t work, drowning it in busyness or entertainment doesn’t work, pretending like you don’t have a a problem doesn’t work.
What will you do with your pain? In our passage, the father of the demoniac child brings his suffering to Jesus.
II. Help My Unbelief! (9:22-27)
1. The God of Unbelief
Listen to the father’s pleas:
Mark 9
17 Teacher, I brought my son to you…
22 …But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us!
23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
This father is desperate for his son to be healed. But for years, he has failed. None of the religious Jews could help him. Not even when he brought the boy to Jesus’ disciples could they do anything. Can you imagine how frustrated, how depressed, how discouraged, he would be? All he wants is for his son to be healthy, but he is absolutely powerless! It’s like you trying over and over to stop hating yourself, to stop being sad, to stop being addicted, but you just can’t stop. Helpless; you cannot help yourself.
In desperation, the father says to Jesus, “If you can do anything…” He just doesn’t know if Jesus can. Jesus gently rebukes him, basically answering his question with, “I can. But do you believe?” The father then replies with one of the most heart wrenching statements in the book of Mark: “I believe! Help my unbelief!”
This, tragically, summarizes the Christian life. I am a Christian, which means I fundamentally believe in an all powerful, all compassionate God. Yet, so often in my circumstances, my mind swirls with doubts. I do believe, but there are parts of me that don’t believe, parts of me that do not 100% trust the mighty and mercy God of the Universe.
I believe that God hears my prayers, but does He always answer them for my good? I believe Jesus is my good shepherd, but will He really bring me all the way home? I believe that God works everything for His great glory and my good, to make more like Jesus, but does that really mean everything? Loneliness, depression, despair, betrayal, slander, pain?
You probably feel the same tension as I do. We believe, but O God, help our unbelief!
Most of us would say, “Yes, God has power to heal the blind, the deaf, the sick, and even raise the dead. This we believe.”
And yet, we doubt whether God has the power to take away our shame, that feeling of being unlovable and dirty. We doubt that God can make us truly thankful that He has made our bodies exactly as they should be and that He says that we have inherent, immeasurable worth because we are His creation. We doubt that God has a good purpose for our anxiety, our sadness, our brokenness. We doubt that God can be our satisfaction, our only good.
Yes, we do believe. But, God, help our unbelief!
Similarly, probably all of us would agree that, yes, God loves us and cares for us, especially that we go to church, participate in youth group, read our Bibles, and pray.
And yet, we doubt that God cares if we’re struggling in math class. We doubt that God cares about our silent loneliness, our evil thoughts, our enslaving screens, our drama. We doubt that God cares about our suicidal thoughts and our failures. We doubt that God cares about our Saturday mornings, our sports practices, our hobbies, our exhaustion, our fears, our doubts, even our unbelief.
Yes, we do believe. But, God, help our unbelief!
In our unbelief, we make out God to be a puny, Barbie-doll-sized, “little g” god, a god of Sundays, not the everyday; a god in the church, but not over the entire universe.
In our unbelief, we think that God can do this little thing over there, but not that thing that we really need.
In our unbelief, we think God cares about this little thing over there, but not about that thing that we really need help with.
But in our unbelief, we call Him a sorta-powerful and sorta-compassionate god. It’s no wonder we’re hopeless! We have a helpless god!
It is out of a doubting heart that the father says, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” This breaks down into two fundamental questions:
Is Jesus able to do anything about my suffering, about their suffering?
Is Jesus willing to care for me, for them?
The father just didn’t know. He believed and yet didn’t believe. He had faith yet weakened by doubt.
2. The Christ of Power and Love
Mark 9
25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
Throughout this entire series in Mark, we have been asking, “Who is this Jesus?” And Mark has told us:
Jesus Christ is the Beloved Son of God, the Holy One of God (Mk 1:24).
Jesus Christ is the One who, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand to touch and cleanse even the leper, saying, “I am willing; be clean” (Mk 1:40-42).
Jesus Christ is the One who has the authority of God to even forgive sins (Mk 2:7,10)
Jesus Christ is the One who is Lord, Master, even over the Sabbath, the entire OT law (Mk 2:28).
Jesus Christ is the One who is stronger than Satan, who metaphorically tied Satan up in order to set the captives free (Mk 3:27).
Jesus Christ is the One whom the demons fear, because He has authority to command them (Mk 1:27) and even torment them forever (Mk 5:7).
Jesus Christ is the One who had compassion upon the people, for they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mk 6:34)—and He is their great shepherd!
Jesus Christ is the One who has both all power and all compassion to raise the dead, heal the sick, cleanse the unclean, make the blind see, make the deaf hear, make the disabled walk, feed thousands in the wilderness, walk upon the water and calm the storm with just a word (Mk 6:50-52), even cast out the demon from a mute, suicidal, tormented little boy—and most supremely, to die on the cross for sinners and rise again from the dead.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the best and last revelation of God in this age, meaning that He shows us what God is really like, full of grace and truth. So ask yourself these questions:
Is Jesus really able to do anything about my suffering, and about my friends’ suffering?
Is Jesus really willing to care for me, for them?
Clearly, the Bible’s answer is yes. But now we come to a third question: Do you believe it? Do you believe Jesus? Do you believe that God is able to do something to help you in your suffering? Do you believe that God is willing to care for you in love?
Now, I need to clarify. I am not saying, “If you believed enough, then God would take away your suffering and heal you.”
No! You must believe that God can use, is using, and will use your suffering for His glory and your good. He never promises to take away temporary suffering just because you trust in Him. Jesus trusted in God to the fullest, but He was crucified! Instead, God promises something better: if you trust and love Him, He will use even bad things for your ultimate good.
Romans 8:28 “…for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
In God’s hands, suffering is for your greater joy, your greater love, your greater thankfulness. Suffering is a blessed teacher in God’s hands.
I am also not saying, “The reason you are suffering is because your faith is weak.” Having a stronger faith doesn’t mean that you get more of what you want from God. We cannot manipulate God to do whatever we want just because we have “strong faith.” No, a strong faith means that you trust God no matter where He leads you, whether pleasure or pain.
Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.
I am not saying, “God only helps us when we have perfect faith.” God is so merciful that He receives even imperfect faith. I mean, that’s the only kind of faith we’ll ever have—we’re sinners, aren’t we? The demoniac’s father was a mixture of faith and unbelief, and yet Jesus graciously healed the boy. The father didn’t earn the miracle; Jesus graciously loved them, because He is full of compassion.
So we must believe that God is all powerful and all compassionate, that He is willing and able to help us in our suffering—not because it’s a “get out of suffering free” card, but because He is trustworthy. Because He is true. And because He is always good.
The father struggled to believe. We struggle to believe. But do you know who else struggled? The disciples.
III. Help Me, Lord!
Mark 9
28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
The disciples thought they could, by their own power, without prayer, drive out a demon! That’s ridiculous! This is why Jesus rebukes them earlier in verse 19.
He was lamenting at their stubborn unbelief, that they would fail to do something even as basic as praying! Only prayer can do it. Why? Because prayer is like some magical spell? Because saying, “In Jesus name” is the Christian equivalent of “Abracadabra! Expelliarmus!”? No. They had no power, because they did not trust in God.
Prayer is powerful because God is all powerful. Prayer has no power in itself; prayer only has power because we speak to the almighty God.
But, also prayer is powerful only because God is all compassionate. If He were not, He would not listen to us. But because He is, when we pray, He hears us.
Faith has many melodies and notes, but prayer is its primary instrument. What is prayer? Prayer is an overflow of knowing and believing God. It is responding verbally to who God is and what God has done. It is the act of bringing your life to the God who sees and knows all.
What if you saw a baby who never cried or made a noise? You would think he had a serious sickness, and be worried for his health, right? Well, what if you saw a Christian who never prayed? You would also a sickness, maybe even a spiritual death, someone who basically lives like an atheist, as if God weren’t real!
Do You Pray?
Do you pray? I’m not asking if you pray for a long time, or if you use the “right words” to pray, or if you pray as much as you should. I’m asking, do you pray at all? Not just at church, not because your parents make you, but do you pray? Do you cry like a baby to the Heavenly Father? Do you talk to God as if He’s real—because, well, He is?
If you don’t pray, or struggle to pray, I’m guessing it’s for one of two reasons: (1) you don’t think God is all powerful and/or (2) you don’t think God is all compassionate.
From one perspective, this makes sense.
Prayer would be worthless if God were not all powerful, right? You wouldn’t ask your baby cousin to help you do your math homework; so why would you ask a powerless god to help you with the biggest problems in your life?
Prayer would be foolish if God were not all compassionate, right? You wouldn’t ask a random stranger to buy you ice cream; so why would you ask a god who doesn’t love to comfort you in the biggest struggles of your life?
If you don’t see God as He really is—mighty and merciful—you will not believe Him. And therefore, you will not trust Him. And therefore, you will not pray.
But biblical faith looks not to a powerless, cruel God, but to the true and living God. Faith looks not to the self for power, but to the Strong and Mighty One—Jesus Christ.1 Faith doesn’t try to work work up the will power, to believe harder. Faith is striving to see God more clearly, more beautifully, more wondrously.
So what do will you do with your suffering and helplessness and unbelief? What do you do when the clouds of suffering block out the light of God? You must pray. Let me teach you one of my most common prayers:
Help me, Lord!
Super complicated, right? No, it’s simple. Every single one of you can memorize that prayer.
When you’re angry: Help me Lord! Help me love like You.
When you’re bitter: Help me, Lord! Help me forgive like You have forgiven me.
When you’re confused: Help me, Lord! Help me be wise. Help me understand.
When you’re tired: Help me, Lord! Help me rest in You.
When you’re worried: Help me, Lord! Help me trust in You. You have planned every one of my days.
When you want something good: Help me, Lord! Would you give me this good gift? But help me want You more.
When you want something bad: Help me, Lord! Take away this evil desire. I want what is good and righteous and true.
When you want something too much: Help me, Lord! Help me find my pleasure in You. Let me not be a slave to anything or anyone but You.
When you feel worthless: Help me, Lord! Help me find my worth, my identity, my beauty, my reputation, my boast in You.
When you have doubts: Help me, Lord! Help me know the truth. Teach me Your Word.
In every emotion, in every stage of life, in every thing—everything!—we must pray.
Conclusion
The Creator of heaven and earth hears the prayers of His people. He is all powerful and all compassionate. He knows our pain and our needs. The greatest proof of that is Jesus Christ. He has powerfully made a way for us to be saved from hell forever. Jesus Christ, truly God and truly Man, died as a sacrifice for sinners, that everyone who would believe in Him would be saved. He died for me, because I deserve to die forever for my sin.
No mere man can conquer sin and death. Only the all powerful God can do it! He is Almighty! But do you also see His compassion? His love? He loved His enemies—us. He made a way of rescue for sinners.
God has met our greatest need in His Son. We can know God, the fountain of living water.
If we can trust Him for our greatest need—salvation—we can trust Him for everything. Believe it, for He is truth.
Questions
What’s the hardest thing going on in your life right now? Or, what’s the hardest thing that your friends are going through right now?
Which do you struggle more to believe—that God is powerful/able to do something about your suffering, or that God is willing to compassionately care for you in your suffering?
How does Jesus show that God truly is both powerful and compassionate? What does that mean in the things you shared for #1?
This week, what can you do to practically ask God to help turn your unbelief into belief?
Footnotes
“True faith takes no confidence in itself, nor does it judge Jesus by the weakness of his followers. It looks to the More Powerful One (1:7) who stands in the place of God, whose authoritative word restores life from chaos. True faith is unconditional openness to God, a decision in the face of all to the contrary that Jesus is able.”
James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Mark, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2002), 280.
Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash