Faith Mixed with Doubt


The presence of doubt does not disqualify your faith. 

The father of the demon-possessed boy in Mark chapter 9 had both faith and doubt.  He had good reason to doubt the ability of Jesus to cleanse his son.  After all, when the man brought his son to Jesus’ disciples, who had healed others, they were unable to help him.  The disciples seemed baffled by their lack of success.  The man then brings his son to Jesus and asks him if he is able to help. (see Mark 9:22)  After asking how long the boy has been affected, Jesus turns the question back on the father.  Jesus tells the man that all things are possible for anyone who believes.  The man had questioned Jesus and His ability.  These were the man’s words:  “But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”  (v.23)  His words reveal his doubt; he asks Jesus to help IF He can.  Jesus turns that back; “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” (v.23)   Jesus is making the outcome conditional on the level of the man’s faith.  IF the man believes it is possible, then it is! And the indication seems to be that he would get the miracle he is asking for on behalf of his son.  The opposite, then, would also presumably be true.  If the man does not believe, then he will not get the desired result.  I love the man’s response to Jesus in verse 24: “Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” The man had BOTH faith and doubt.  He confessed both to Jesus.  His answer is honest, and bold. 

I see boldness and faith in the man’s honesty.  He was defending his faith, “I have faith!  I do believe!”  He was also honest about the unbelief or doubt that he had, and he was asking Jesus for help.  His response “help my unbelief”, is, in my opinion a statement of both faith and doubt.  The man had doubt.  But he was bringing that doubt to Jesus and he believed that Jesus would help him.  That is faith!  Just moments prior the man had said, “if you can, please have pity and help us”.  Now, when faith is demanded, the man is presenting both his faith together with his doubt and he is asking for help.  There is a boldness in this that is admirable.  The man believes that Jesus can and will help him.  This man is a father and he is desperate to see his son set free.  The wellbeing of his son is hinged on the father’s faith and the father is determined to “have enough”. 

As we see in the next verses, Jesus rebukes the demon and the boy is set free.  The boy is healed; the father gets the miracle he requested.  The man’s faith was “enough” even with the presence of doubt.  Jesus was not offended or limited in anyway by the unbelief confessed by the man.  Even as the man confessed his doubt, he demonstrated faith.  Faith is the action of believing for an outcome.  The man was asking for help from Jesus.  He was asking first for the healing of his son and secondly, he was asking for help with his own doubt or unbelief.  Jesus responded with help to both requests!

Hebrews 11:6 says this; “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”  Jesus requires faith; without faith we cannot be pleasing to God.  In the remainder of the verse, we see a “measure” of what level of faith is required.  Two things are listed; first that we believe that God exists and secondly, we must believe that God is a rewarder of those who come to Him.  The first requirement is pretty basic.  In order to have faith that pleases God, we must have faith that God exists.  Why would we ask for help, wisdom, power, … anything – from a god we aren’t even sure exists?!  The second requirement stated in this verse is that we must believe that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him.  In order to go to God in faith we must be convinced that He is good and that, more specifically, He is good to us, to you!  Faith requires that we come to God expectant that He can and will answer us in a beneficial way.  Faith implies trust.  If you don’t believe that God is good, it will be hard to have trust and faith in order to ask for anything because you are not convinced that what He would give would be good.

Scripture doesn’t say that your faith has to be perfect, or without any doubt.  You just have to bring your doubt to Jesus. Jesus makes our faith perfect!  (See Hebrews 12:2) Trusting God enough to ask for help demonstrates faith!  If Jesus doesn’t disqualify our faith based on the presence of doubt, why should we?  Let’s just bring our doubts along with our faith, confess them both to Jesus and allow Him to increase our faith!

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