Mark 9:14-29

Just Waiting

            Why does God make us wait? I feel like this is a question I hear most often now. It’s been asked at funerals. It’s been asked at nursing homes. It’s been asked in church. It’s been asked in our homes. Why does God make us wait? The hard part is that I really don’t have an answer to that question. Or rather, it’s a question that can have a million different answers and I never know which one is right. When what we believe God is doing among us stands in opposition to what we know and experience, we’re often stuck in this waiting game. We’re waiting for God to act among us as we believe he can and will. Now, I don’t like being too vague. When I say, we’re waiting for God, I mean things like waiting for the right job to come around, waiting for that perfect companion, waiting on a house to sell, waiting for God to come and take us home. These are things that we know will happen at some point in time, at least we hope, yet they’re things that we have no evidence or reassurance for while waiting for them. It’s a “hurry up and wait” type of situation. Having gone through one such situation myself, I can tell you the difficulty isn’t necessarily knowing that God can or will help… it’s the when. I feel like we struggle hardest putting our timetable aside and trusting in God’s timing. It’s easy to pray for God to heal us… and believe he will. It’s also easy to doubt when it doesn’t happen immediately. It's this conflict of emotion, the tension between belief and doubt that is all brought about because of time.

            As we jump into our Gospel lesson today, it’s this very dynamic that lays underneath our entire narrative. The father of the child possessed struggles with tension between belief and doubt just as we all do. So may we also learn to say:

I BELIEVE; HELP MY UNBELIEF!

I.

            Just before our text today, Jesus and the three disciples are on top of the mount of the transfiguration. During that time, the other nine disciples are left at the foot of the mountain. All they were given to do was wait, wait for Jesus and the others to finish up and return down the mountain. Yet, it’s in their waiting that something happens. As we read, “When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them… And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able,” Mark 9:14-18. These nine disciples were given far more than they could handle on their own. They were simply waiting for Jesus, and of course had no control over when he would return. I can imagine that as the crowds started gathering, when people started approaching them for help, they were praying and hoping Jesus would come back. For so we understand that faith isn’t always about the if, but also the when. 

            When things are out of our control, it’s the waiting that’s the most painful. Don’t believe me, just look at the father here. His son has been demon possessed for some time. We don’t know just how long, but it’s safe to assume it’s been at least a few years. For we’re told it’s been “since childhood” (Mark 9:21). We also hear, “And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us,” Mark 9:22. This father has been watching his son grow up, mute, and demon possessed, constantly afflicted, but unable to do anything. He’s waited for help for years. Now, when he finally believes he has it, with the disciples, they’re unable to do anything. He’s believed that God would help him. He’s believed that God would take care of his son. Yet, his doubts are starting to speak too loudly. “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24. So is it with us. When we’re left waiting for something outside of our control, the waiting becomes painful. It tests our faith when the doubts start saying it will never happen. No matter how much we believe and tell ourselves that God has everything under control, our waiting really makes us question it.

II.

            It’s times like this that people ask, why does God make me wait? We know that God wants to help us. We know that our suffering pains him too. So why wait? Why not just help us now? All I can offer is this… Luther often said that our way to understand Scripture, to understand the mind of God was through prayer, meditation, and suffering. Part of us learning how to be like Christ is suffering his patience. It’s in our waiting that we must learn how to truly turn everything over to God. To let God be God and we be man. Indeed, Jesus says, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes,” Mark 9:23. Belief means laying our timetable aside as well. For we believe, God will help us. God will care for us… in his timing.

            I know that may not be the most comforting statement for those of us who are waiting currently. Yet, consider what we’re waiting for. Like the father, we’re waiting for Jesus. Israel was waiting for Jesus. And Jesus came. He came and did far more than anyone could ever hope or dream. He came and healed the sick. He cured the lame. He cast out demons. He forgives us our sins and dies on the cross for you and me. For you see, even when our faith wanes, when it’s plagued by doubts of when, Jesus assures us to trust in his timing, praying to him to lay all our troubles at his feet. This is what Jesus is saying at the very end, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer,” Mark 9:29. Prayer is our chance to put even our doubts in Jesus’ hands, trusting in his timing. For what we wait for isn’t a question of if… it’s only when. When Jesus returns, when God finally acts, when our waiting shall be rewarded… Jesus will do far more for us than all that we ask and hope. May our faith stand strong on the promises of Christ no matter how long he makes us wait… because we know that God shall not delay forever. For the sake of Christ, God won’t stall his loving care forever. But he shall bring to us his compassion for both our body and soul!

            Thus, in our waiting, let us learn to say, “I believe… help my unbelief!” Help me, Lord to wait for your perfect timing when you shall deliver to me the very love of Christ. In the meantime, may we pray to God to protect us from every assault of Satan so we may wait patiently for Christ’s return! In Jesus’ name! Amen!