Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 8-9.

Every time I read this passage I identify with the father of the boy whom Jesus’ disciples could not heal.  I do not identify with him as a father, since I have no children.  Rather I identify with his response when Jesus tells him that everything is possible for one who believes. “I believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”  More than anything else that is my prayer every day.  I believe that when Jesus told His disciples that they would do even greater things than what they saw Him doing He was making a prophecy which applies to His followers today.  Yet I do not do such things, and my faith wavers.  Fortunately, the rest of this passage gives me some comfort in that those who walked with Jesus on this earth also suffered faith issues.  They had failed to heal the boy.  At the beginning of this passage, just a short time after witnessing Jesus feed five thousand, they could feed a crowd which turned out to be only four thousand strong.  Peter, who had just proclaimed Jesus the Messiah, had to be rebuked for not having sufficient faith to accept that Jesus would die on the cross.  So, I will join the child’s father and cry out to God, “I believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.