Twins: Willing and Able

(Straight from my Journal today-this is raw thought.) Perhaps at this point in this man's life he was just out of expectations that anything could or would change. Does one ever say to Jesus, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us?" (Mk.9:22) Of course he can. A leper came to Jesus once and said, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." (Matt.8:2) On this occasion Jesus merely said "I am willing." So in these two "if" statements we have "willing" and "able," the twins of faith. Can I believe that God is both powerful (able) and good (willing)? We see Jesus' response to that. "If you can!" You can hear the inflection in His voice. It is like "I can't believe you just said that." But desperate people who have been here and there seeking help may not know absolutely when they find the real Doctor that healing will follow.

Jesus puts down what seems like a rule or a maxim. "All things are possible to him who believes." Now if I take this in  the immediate context of an exceedingly cruel case of child-demon possession-an extreme case of demonic abuse of a child-a demon that must be cast out violently-is this possible for me t do if I have enough faith? This has never been tested in my life and I pray it never will be. But if I start from this "thing" since Jesus said "all things" where do I go? How far, what kinds of things? Frankly I don't know how to apply this passage. I do come away with this: More faith is better than little faith. Remember Jesus' initial response was "unbelieving generation." Another thing I see here is that my increase in faith does not give me more power. My greater surety of faith is in the One who has the power to do anything. My faith opens up a world of possibilities, whereas my lack of faith closes down or limits the possibilities. I don't think this "rule" is unqualified. If it were then God who can do anything would be subject to whatever we might think up to do. He is not a slot machine to be manipulated by faith. But God does honor faith and bless efforts to accomplish things that are in accordance with His will. He is both willing and able to do His will in His way. It is we who seek that will and way, and try to conform to it.

So is this really a rule or simply a truth that applied to this man in this situation since Jesus has already determined what His will would be and His power to do it was not in dispute. The man did not want at this point for his faith to be an impediment to the healing of his only son. His response was immediate. He cries out as an almost last desperate cry between him and the Savior-"I do believe; help my unbelief!" This is one of the most humble and real statements ever said to Jesus.