My wife and I have two children, and I can’t imagine them being sick with more than the flu. When I hear about kids who have cancer or other terrible diseases, my eyes tear up as I think about the burden of suffering in childhood and the load of concern weighing on parents in those situations.

I can’t imagine what the father of the boy in Mark 9 was going through. Hearing about the healer named Jesus and what he and his disciples could do was probably that father’s last hope. So, when Jesus’ disciples couldn’t cast out the impure spirit from his son, the man must have been devastated. And when Jesus asked him if he believed, the man’s heartfelt confession was as raw and true as they come: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

We often find ourselves in similar situations, even if they aren’t as dire as this father’s predicament. We want to believe. We know that we need to believe. And in the meantime, we keep fighting against nagging feelings of unbelief.

Jesus has come to help in the way we need it most. Though he might not help us in the same way he helped the anguished father and his son in today’s story, Jesus showed, by laying down his life, that he truly loves us. And by his resurrection he made it possible for us to live with him forever!